Working with the media

Transcription

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3 Working with the media Who is this guy? What does he want? What does he do? Okay, prove it.

4 The Press and PR Office CHSS = Three staff CMVM= Two staff Science and Engineering = Two staff International = Two staff

5 So what? And other news values The so what question Statistics Timeliness Conflict and comfort The magpie instinct Superlatives rule Outcomes not inputs

6 What the media doesn t want Academic awards Partnerships The beginning of a project A new course Conferences New centres Academic appointments

7 What can the press office do? News releases Expert comment Media training Opinion pieces Placing features Photocalls Social media University and College web news Staff/Student news In-house publications

8 News releases Simple: who, what, how and why Lay language death to jargon Succinct one page Journalistic style

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10 Expert comment In one week dozens of requests for comment on stories in the news. Mainly reactive but we contact news desks and use Twitter proactively for on-diary news such as budget, elections, referenda, and major sporting events.

11 How to be a good expert Keep it simple Be prepared have facts to hand, three points Stay on track avoid cul-de-sacs Be confident you are the expert Be comfortable with your words being edited

12 MediaTalent

13 Opinion pieces Around 700 words pitched to media, eg. The Herald, Spectator Coffee House Has to be on current topic Has to have opinion - not just describing what has happened Photograph included

14 Social media University Twitter feed 63k followers Press Office Twitter feed 3k targeted followers Facebook 155k likes Outlet for news that may not be press released

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16 Why it worked Relevancy How the police operates is of interest to all. Figures suggest you are likely to be affected. Superlative First study to look at these figures. Conflict Confounds belief that stop and search was more prevalent down south Magpie Police Scotland are under scrutiny

17 Outcomes Coverage in BBC, The Herald, The Guardian, Times, Express, Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Star, The Scotsman, Daily Record, Edinburgh Evening News, STV Leaders in the Scotsman and the Herald. BBC Radio Scotland dedicated morning phone in to subject, questions in Parliament

18 Selling a seminar

19 Selling a seminar How Edinburgh started the first sexual revolution, in the 1760s Far from being uniformly straight laced, polite societies of the 18th century featured cross dressing, alternative marriages, and elaborate reproductive aids. According to academics assembling in Edinburgh, this was an era when such illicit sexual practices were more embedded in polite culture than previously acknowledged. A ground breaking conference will explore the idea that the first sexual revolution did not occur in the 1960s, but rather 200 years earlier in the 1700s. Fuelled by increased social interaction in rapidly growing cities and the curiosity of the Enlightenment, the 1700s inspired new ideas around sexuality that continue to shape contemporary society. It was an era when contemporary debates around such issues as same-sex marriage, IVF, and pornography were also being explored. Politeness and Prurience: Situating Transgressive Sexualities In The Long Eighteenth Century will be held at the University of Edinburgh on 2-3 September.

20 Outcomes This story was on the back of a request by an academic to promote an art history conference. Conferences are notoriously difficult to sell to the media. After interviewing the PhD students involved we identified a news line around the first sexual revolution. The conference was mentioned lower down in the news release. The event was secondary to the story it was telling. The outcome was coverage in a number of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, including The Sun, The Sunday Herald and The Times.

21 Indyref, Brexit and beyond

22 Indyref, Brexit and beyond Edinburgh University has taken the lead in filling the gap in people s knowledge by producing a supply of as politically neutral as possible papers on the biggest issues to be decided. Margo McDonald, independent MSP, 18 September 2013

23 Indyref, Brexit and beyond Neutral press releases List of 45 experts sent to all media Social media Briefing papers and blogs Podcasts Press conference No surprises Partisan academics

24 Indyref, Brexit and beyond

25 Thank you Questions?