Media Relations

The press is one of the most powerful tools to win demands. It is also my favorite. There are two parts to working with the press: DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS WITH reporters and the interviews themselves.

Where to start

First, let’s discuss building your media contacts. Media work is not a one-off thing. It’s about building relationships over time. Sometimes reporters won’t pay attention to you until the 3rd or 4th time they hear from you. It’s essential to be persistent to prove to the reporter that you or your story is important.

Next let’s talk about how to set up interviews. Identify the most prominent mainstream and left-wing media outlets in your area. If you believe the protest is important enough to national outlets, contact them too. Find contact info for the media outlet’s news desk. Often this is an email address like tips or news@whatevermediaoutlet.com. Also, and this is essential, search for the contact info of topic specific reporters. For student organizing this is often the education or politics reporter. If their phone number is available, call them. If not, add their email to your list. If they do not answer the call, email and text them. After you have compiled your list of email addresses send a mass email BCCing everyone. I also recommend adding all of this information to an excel file to store for future actions.

How to contact reporters

Now let’s discuss what to include in a message to reporters. For phone calls, texts and voicemails, indicate who you are in relation to the issue, what the issue is, what the demand is, what action you are taking, and what you are asking the reporter to do. You’re also going to want to convey urgency and excitement. This is an *important* issue you’re pitching to them, and *they are not going to want to miss out on the opportunity.* Let’s go through an example of a good message:

This is Natalya McConnell, Sophomore Class President at Franklin High School. Students are staging a sick out Friday January 14th to demand the Seattle School District move the school to remote learning and only transition back in person with the necessary precautions. I wanted to give you and KNKX a heads up about this important breaking story. Let me know if you would like to interview some students.

For email, you can write a slightly longer message but still keep it concise. If you have enough time, also attach a press release. I have a sample press release to reference. Let’s go through an example of a good message:

Students of Franklin High School stand in solidarity w/ educators who have used their sick leave as an action to protect and prioritize the collective mental and physical health of our school community. Yesterday, educators were not given the same care and consideration as students and were required to go into the school building while there was an active shooting threat. This decision by the SPS district was unnecessary and disregards the safety of educators. Educators are fundamental in our school community. When educators don’t feel safe, everyone is not safe. We stand in solidarity with educators and demand the district stop jeopardizing safety at our schools. Please direct any questions to press@seattlestudentunion.org.

So like, what do i even say?

The interview is the most challenging part. You may be very excited or very nervous. First, try to always do an interview with another person if you can. Recruit your peers who also care about the issue. By working with another person, you can discuss what you want to say before the reporter arrives. Also, hype each other up, you got this!

If you are a young person living in a politically liberal place, reporters for the most part will not attack your character. Interviews with students are not heated like what you see on TV. Reporters sympathize with youth. Still, you may be asked stupid questions and you do not need to answer their question to please them. Flip the script and answer your way. Some questions may be argumentative because the reporter is attempting to manipulating you to agree. Let me share an example:

Reporter: After the Ingraham shooting many people—including a father of a child locked in one of the classrooms—are calling for police in schools to protect students.

Untrained interviewee: Umm well I don’t really know, police could be good. They did help me out when I car was stuck on the highway and the police officer in my middle school was so nice. I just don’t really know, but I’m scared.

Trained interviewee: I want to make it clear that as students we stand against bringing cops back into schools. Cops instill racism in our community and many of my black peers have been targets of school police officers. We cannot allow our schools to be policed. The way to prevent school shootings is to have less guns, not armed cops. We are scared so we are demanding an assault weapons ban to prevent future school shootings.

Stick to your demand. Come back to the demand multiple times during the interview. Stories are great but then add “and that is why students are demanding blank” or “we demand blank because…”. You do not always have to return to your main argument, but a listener should easily be able to connect the dots from what you say to your demand. Share why you are fighting for your demand. If you can say a clickbait quote, do it. I have an example below.

Things to remember

  • Make Short, pithy Declarations

  • Stick to the demand

  • Answer the question you want to answer, not necessarily the question asked

  • If you don’t have anything good to say don’t say anything at all

  • Speak loudly and confidently

  • Don’t speak too fast

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Great question! Start by discussing the protest or issues with someone you trust or a fellow organizer. This should not be a mock interview, just a discussion of the issues you are fighting for. Make sure you know what you are talking about, anecdotes you may want to share and ask the person what they think is important. After, write bullet point notes about essential content to speak about in the interview. At the top of the page write your demand. Next, perform a mock interview with the same person or someone else. Tell the person to ask you unexpected or manipulative/argumentative questions. If you are doing the interview with another person create a plan of what each of you wants to discuss; make sure you are both on the same page.

  • Assign a media liaison who will handle all contact with the press. This person should have a list of media you’ve invited to attend and ideally was the person reaching out to press before the event. Give all press attending the protest the media liaison’s phone number and email. The media liaison needs to introduce themselves to all reporters at the event. After introductions, ask the reporter if they would like to interview individuals. If so, identify 1-3 people at the event who are personally affected by the issue or were active in organizing the event. Make sure these individuals receive some kind of training before hand or have some experience. Best practice is to create a list of those who would like to be interviewed before the event so you are prepared. Inviting newly involved young people to interview is a great way to organize—but be sure to train these folks. People are more inclined to become even more involved if they feel you are listening to them and inviting them to publicly represent the movement.

  • This is totally natural. I’ve been speaking to reporters for close to a decade and I still get some butterflies every time. If you are a young person living in most areas of the US, reporters for the most part will not attack your character. Interviews with students are not heated like what you see on TV. Reporters sympathize with youth.

    I encourage you to prepare for the interview in the way I have detailed above. Also, remember to speak slowly so you have time to think about everything you say. Feel free to reach out to me if you need more support, have questions or want my feedback with a mock interview.

  • Yes, absolutely! Discuss how you are connected to the issue. One thing to avoid though is going on an unrelated tangent. This is why you must think about whether your comment relates to the demand before saying anything.

  • Ooh this key! Check the website of the publication to see what kind of content they produce. A good news outlet will mostly cover liberal issues with a neutral opinion. Consider whether your liberal/progressive friends and family get their news from the outlet or if you ever have. Additionally, is the local tv/radio station connected to a large, respected broadcast station such as NPR, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. If you have never heard of a media outlet, it is essential to do some digging. Sometimes small publications are left-wing and even more sympathetic than mainstream news. This is very specific, but local Fox News stations are generally liberal, not right wing, so don’t avoid them. The main outlets to watch out for are right-wing, small, local radio stations that will manipulate you into a live interview and make no effort to show any respect, even towards children. I had this exact experience of agreeing to an interview before I was warned about an outlet and cancelled the interview. After canceling, the reporter attempted to pressure me to interview at a different time, but I did not respond. I recommend ignoring any interview inquiries from these reporters because they are just trying to make you look stupid and crazy and do not respect boundaries. Luckily most stations, especially the large ones, are reputable and never directly criticize young activists.