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Coalfield Communications

Coalfield Communications. Learn what it takes to communicate effectively through the press. Understand the importance of the press in communicating with the public we serve Be familiar with the limitations of communicating through the press and ways to overcome them. Goals. Goals.

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Coalfield Communications

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  1. Coalfield Communications

  2. Learn what it takes to communicate effectively through the press. Understand the importance of the press in communicating with the public we serve Be familiar with the limitations of communicating through the press and ways to overcome them Goals

  3. Goals Recognize what makes news -- and why Get ideas about how to get your agency’s message out Learn how to respond appropriately to press problems or opportunities Avoid making common mistakes Have the confidence to handle bad situations well

  4. COALFIELDCOMMUNICATIONS The Role of the News Media (and maybe how to keep from getting rolled) Part 1 What is news and why should we care?

  5. Face-to-Face Dialogue Direct Comprehensive Authoritative Unfiltered Interactive

  6. Communication through the media Selective / IncompleteNon-authoritative Filtered / Biased Non-interactive

  7. Aren’t there better ways to communicate directly with mass audiences? So why do we even bother?

  8. Local TV Newspaper Radio Cable Network TV Online 57% 41% 41% 33% 32% 25% - 29% * Where Americans Say That They Get Their News Pew Research Center for People and the Press 2002, 2004

  9. Why do we keep trying • to communicate through the press? • It’s our duty to report to citizens • about their government • Most citizens get their news about us • through the press • They’re going to print something, anyway. • We can’t avoid it.

  10. Not recognizing bad news when we make it: “Ahh, this isn’t going to make any news.” Not telling anybody about good news when we make it. “No news is good news.” Telling good stories badly. “Try to guess what we’re wasting your money on this time.” What are the consequences of each?

  11. What are news reporters looking for? Conflict– war, unrest, competition, opposing views, good vs. evil Drama—compelling events with something valuable at stake Emotion – unfairness, outrage, sympathy, pleasure, human interest Consequence – what is at stake for the reader? Progress –problems solved, advances, “gee whiz” factor What makes news news?

  12. Multipliers: Immediacy – what’s happening NOW! Proximity / The Local Angle – Is this in MY backyard? Celebrity – famous people doing just about anything Special Angles: Misbehavior / Hypocrisy --crime, corruption, waste, hypocrisy, hubris Oddity/Irony/Novelty– news with a twist, “man bites dog” Recognition / Local pride – milestones, anniversaries, honors What makes news news?

  13. Conflict

  14. Drama The Miracle At Quecreek Mine Rescue workers on Sunday pulled all nine miners one by one from the watery, 240-foot-deep shaft where they had been trapped for three days, a jubilant reward for an effort fraught with one gut-wrenching setback after another. After three grim days of frantic drilling delayed by broken bits and busted seals, defiant crews -- with no signs of life to encourage them since Thursday -- bored a giant auger through the ceiling of 4-foot high chamber at 10:16 p.m. Saturday. The breakthrough allowed workers to drop a telephone line to the miners through a small air pipe. Moments later, rescuers were seen hugging and giving the thumbs-up.

  15. Consequence By Jessica D. Matthews, Times-Shamrock Writer March 5, 2005 The problems from abandoned mines are all around us. Streams are contaminated. Hunters watch closely to avoid falling into old shafts in the woods. Young people sometimes tempt fate — and lose — by swimming in or climbing near the deep pits that exposed veins of anthracite but have since filled with water. Statewide,2,075 abandoned mine sites and 250,000 acres are waiting to be reclaimed, including 106 sites in Northumberland County and 269 in Schuylkill. Across the nation, a backlog of more than 9,400 abandoned mines compete for limited federal dollars dispersed through the Abandoned Mine Lands program.

  16. Celebrity BACKSTREET BOY TO TESTIFY THURSDAY BEFORE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON COAL MINING AND VALLEY FILLS Kevin Richardson, Kentucky native and member of the famed pop group, the Backstreet Boys will urge Congressional leaders to stop further destruction of Appalachian waterways. A press conference with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Appalachian environmental leaders will follow the hearing. 

  17. Blackwater River Returns as Fishery The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection announced that, after 35 years as a lifeless river, that the highly acid Blackwater River has been neutralized. A limestone “doser” releases powdered limestone from a 50-ton silo and mixes with river water. Almost overnight, this formerly dead river turned into a high quality trout fishery. Conflict Drama Emotion Consequence Progress Immediacy Proximity Celebrity Local Angle Oddity/Irony

  18. County High School students plant trees on mined land for Arbor Day March 25, 2005 State Officials “take the pledge” for more trees on restored mine lands Scott County High School studentswill join federal and Tennessee officials March 30 to plant 350 hardwood trees on reclaimed mine land. The tree planting celebrates Arbor Day and a new partnership working for reforestation in Appalachia.

  19. Telling Good Stories Badly OSM FUNDS PENNSYLVANIA APPALACHIAN CLEAN STREAMS PROJECT UNDER NEW WATERSHED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAM Kathy Karpan, Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today approved $68,000 in funding for an Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative project in Pennsylvania. The project is to be funded under OSM's Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program, announced in January 1999. Karpan announced that AMD & ART, will receive funds to construct a passive treatment system to treat the Vintondale discharge. The discharge is a source of acid mine drainage (AMD) which flows at 200 gallons per minute into Blacklick Creek, in Indiana County. The site is near a hiking/bike trail and is very accessible for educational and recreational purposes. Can you tell what’s important to us? (1) The Boss, (2) The Department, (3) the money, (4) the program, (5) where the money comes from, (6) when that program was started. If you were a reporter, would you get interested in this story?

  20. By Mike Robinson What do you get when you combine $68,000 in federal dollars, 200 gallons per minute of acid water flowing into a community, and 12 nationally-renowned artists? Kathy Karpan, Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining (OSM), said the answer is a reclamation project involving regional industrial history, a recreational complex, community pride, and clean streams. Abatement of acid mine drainage, or AMD, is on the minds of residents of Vintondale, Pennsylvania, a small Pennsylvania community that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution in this country. Art is always on the mind of Salvo Begonia, an award-winning landscape architect from southern California….. A Beautiful Mined

  21. OSM FUNDS PENNSYLVANIA APPALACHIAN CLEAN STREAMS PROJECT UNDER NEW WATERSHED COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAM Kathy Karpan, Director of the Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), today approved $68,000 in funding for an Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative project in Pennsylvania. The project is to be funded under OSM's Watershed Cooperative Agreement Program, announced in January 1999.

  22. Bad stories we can suffer: Failing to protect people Ignoring problems Wasting tax money Letting bad guys get away with it Blocking the “good guys” Bad ratings, rankings Projects overdue or bungled Relying on questionable science Studying things to death Being unresponsive Being mysterious or secretive. What else? Good stories we can offer: Protecting people Solving problems Saving tax money or using it wisely Punishing bad guys Rewarding good guys Awards, rankings, recognition Projects begun/completed Technological innovations Studies completed Getting the job done The real “inside story” What else?

  23. What’s the story?

  24. What’s the story?

  25. What’s the story?

  26. Easy Stories Anniversaries Honors / Awards Open Houses Displays Civic Involvement Interesting People

  27. Pitch Your Story Exercise Each team selects one “good” story from an agency Tell us your headline - 10 words or less. Tell us how you would pitch your story to a reporter. How will you lure a reporter to cover your story? Event? Occasion? Activity? Drama? Consequence? Emotion? Celebrity? Progress? Photo opportunities? Interviews? The “inside story?”

  28. Not recognizing bad news when we make it: “Ahh, this isn’t going to make any news.” Not telling anybody about good news when we make it. “No news is good news.” Telling good stories badly. “Try to guess what we’re wasting your money on this time.” What are the consequences of each?

  29. Mike’s Quick Keys to Government Communications Do the right thing. Get your story straight. Tell somebody.

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