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PR Writing | 5 Tips to Making Your News Newsworthy (via
www.publicrelationsblogger.com)
As a communications and public relations professional, part of your job is to make your news interesting, value-adding, and relevant. These, among other qualities, make for a newsworthy story. Reporters and journalists may consider these factors below when deciding whether or not to run a story.
Relevance. This is critical to a story's newsworthiness, and encompasses all of the tips below. If your story is irrelevant to the audience of the publication you are targeting (or even irrelevant to other news happening in the area and nationally) your story is unlikely to be featured. Do a little research, think about your company's news and goings-ons, and consider where to spend your effort.
Timing. If your company releases a product but waits days to send out a press release, your chances of getting covered by the publication can be hindered. Consumers are used to getting the latest news, especially with so many sources for news readily available to any one consumer. If your news is old, it is usually uninteresting to readers.
Significance. How important is your story? Will it make an impact on its readers? Will it affect the community, consumers, stakeholders, etc.? This also has to do with relevance; if the story has nothing to do with its targeted readers, it likely won't make it to print. Also consider the facts of the story; a change in the HR department may not be as significant as a changing of the company's CEO.
Proximity. The closer to home a story takes place, the more relevant the reader will find the story, and thus the more newsworthy the story will be. Consumers may care about national things when it comes to government, national debt, etc., but when it comes to company changes that are close to home they will take a greater interest in the story.
Eminence. If your story involves a famous person or company, it will likely be newsworthy. That's not to say that the story doesn't need to be relevant, but a prominent figure in the story will usually help in its popularity and readability.
Another important thing to consider is the reporter to which you are pitching your story; if the story is newsworthy, but not relevant to the reporter/journalist or even the publication, there is very little change your story will be covered or published. Keep that in mind when selecting who to send a press release, letter, or story to.