G061
WRITING EFFECTIVE MEDIA LINES,
NEWS RELEASES & MEDIA PITCHES

NOTE: The workshop content described below will be delivered through ZOOM ONLINE on two consecutive half-day sessions. Agendas and other relevant workshop documentation will be sent to you by the workshop instructor at least three days prior to the date of the first session.

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND

Media Lines: When the media get in touch on a hot issue, you need to answer them with effective responses that put that issue to bed once and for all. This workshop shows you how. The instructor discusses the definition, purpose, approach and structure of departmental media lines and puts you through some informative and useful exercises.

News Releases: A high percentage of new releases end up on the news-room floor because they lack punch, brevity and useful information. In this workshop the instructor shows you how to write an effective news release that will improve your chances of good media coverage.

Media Pitches: Whether we communicate with the media emails, face-to-face or through RSS feeds and other social media channels, we need to understand what journalists need and pitch our news and stories accordingly. This workshop provides participants with the approaches, tips, information and language they need to do just that.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• How to write crisp, concise prose
• Why media lines are important and useful
• How to write effective media lines
• Why some news releases fail and why some succeed
• How to write effective news releases
• How to assess the newsworthiness of our stories and craft our pitch to the media

INCLUDED WITH THIS WORKSHOP

• Participant notebook consisting of presentation slides
• Link to post-workshop resources and useful information
• Morning and afternoon snacks and beverages and lunch
• Certificate of completion to add to your professional portfolio

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Citizen-Centered Communications
• Media Relations
• Verbal and Written Communications

Agenda
8:45 - 9:00	Introductions and Workshop Overview
9:00 - 9:40	Media Context and Need Media today. What media needs from us? What is news and is not? Importance of stories. Understanding media news filters.
9:40 - 10:15	Writing Concisely Reason for and approaches to writing concisely. A three-step practical approach to destilling information. Key tips for compressing texts. The wider context: analyzing and synthesizing information, defining issues, and assembling clusters of information into a logical order under tight deadlines.
10:15 - 10:30	Break
10:30 - 11:00	Précis Exercise In pairs, participants work on reducing a specific text to one-fifth of its original length and present the results. Instructor-led discussion on methods of identifying and summarizing key ideas for a document summary.
11:00 - 11:35	Writing Media Lines Context, importance, structure and key attributes of effective successful media lines. Key principles of plain language and successful messaging.
11:35 - 12:15	Exercise Participants break into groups and prepare media lines using a case study. Instructor-led review and discussion of the results.
12:15 - 1:00	Lunch
1:00 - 1:45	News Releases What the media want and need: the various sections of a release and how to prepare them.
1:45 - 2:30	Exercise on Preparation of a News Release Participants break into groups of three and prepare a news release based on a case study scenario. Review of release with the instructor.
2:30 - 2:45	Break
2:45 - 3:40	Pitching to the Media The elements of a successful pitch. When and how to pitch your story. What are the elements that will appeal.
3:40 - 4:20	Exercise In groups, participants will craft a media pitch based on a case study scenario and report back with their results. Instructor-led feedback and discussion
4:20 - 4:30	Wrap-up and Workshop Evaluation