10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 6: Reporters’ Notebook

Just because something is noteworthy in your line of work, that doesn’t mean your local news organization will care. Here is how to know if a reporter might call before he actually does call.

photo credit: BotheredByBees

Law of the Bright Shiny Object

When I delivered a lecture on Applying Risk Communication to Public Health Emergencies to Loyola University earlier this year, I explained a concept that I call the Law of the Bright Shiny Object.

An assignment editor will place the most attention on the story that requires the least amount of work, especially if the story involves sex, kids or personal tragedy.

Some examples of this phenomenon are the coverage of Princess Diana’s death, the O.J. Simpson Trial, and the made-for-the-tabloids escapades of Drew Peterson. The Swine Flu event in spring 2009 was another example. But as the story unfolded, and American death tolls came nowhere close to those of Mexico and other nations, domestic news organizations lost interest. In fact routine press releases detailing daily confirmations, which were front page stories early on, eventually became part of regional roundups.

The question for the fall influenza season is whether or not news organizations will find H1N1 cases interesting at all. From what I have seen in the national press coverage this summer is similar to what I predicted in Five Ways to Prepare for Seasonal Influenza This Fall. However, the coverage isn’t all what I expected, and I believe the press won’t turn their attention to H1N1 unless we see deaths in the United States—either from the virus itself or from an unfortunate incident related to the vaccine.

Start Following Reporters on Twitter

One of the anticipatory moves that I have made since the spring H1N1 outbreak has been to follow more reporters, producers, and editors that I did last spring. At the time I followed the “outbound” broadcast Twitter accounts. Reporters are using Twitter more than ever as ways to communicate, solicit story ideas, and communicate with their audience. As business communicators, it is our job to connect with news organizations on their terms. Increasingly, that is becoming via social media channels.

Today’s To-Do: Warm-Call Your Beat Reporters

In addition to updating your call list and following reporters on Twitter, Today’s To-Do is an exercise in source-side public relations. Reach out to the reporters who cover your organization on a regular basis, as well as reporters you may have encountered with spring H1N1. You goal is to gauge their organization’s interest in the fall influenza season.

• Are they writing preparatory stories such as “How to Prepare” features?
• What is their threshold for coverage? Confirmations? Deaths?
• Do they care about business continuity planning?

These questions not only allow you to gauge sentiment, it is also a way for you to gain some exposure for your organization and how you plan to address the issue. Businesses can look like responsible planners, and give reporters a new “angle” on a rather worn-down storyline.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• New Campaign for Will County Health Department
• Mike Hughes Is Wrong
• Murdoch: The Future is Mobile TV
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 3: Verify Your Contacts
• Five Things You Can Do to Do The Media’s Job for Them
• Bid4Spots: The eBay of Media Buying?
• April’s 5 Most Read Stories
• Working With the Fairness Doctrine
• New Television Spot for Appellate Court Judge Mary Schostok
• Joe Birkett Endorses Dan Cronin