Flak Yak
Teach MEdia Newsletter, No. 1, Aug. 27, 2015
Our mission: Easy, 5-minute communications training
Our goal is to produce these topics for "snackable" consumption, or something you could watch, listen or (sometimes "and") read in five minutes or less. This inaugural edition will likely run over that self-imposed limit as we introduce the program. We'll be releasing these weekly on Thursdays this term. Let us know which topics you'd like to see first, which you could care less about, and what we missed. Visit the introductory Teach MEdia newsletter from July 1 to see what else we plan to cover this year.
In this newsletter find:
- Teach MEdia video welcome
- Contacts and tips for getting info to local news media
- Specific sections, shows to target
- One-page summary page of "Getting Your Positive News Out" (currently made for the Douglas ESD staff but an editable document is available upon request if you'd like to tailor it for your district)
Contacts and a few tips for getting info to local Douglas County media outlets
EASE OF ACCESS IS KEY!
Reporters in all media outlets get way more submissions than they can ever get around to covering. One of the simplest ways to rise to the top and get noticed is by submitting information in a form they can easily "rip and ship" (i.e., quickly copy and paste to edit for their formatting conventions). That means sending information in complete, but short, sentences within the text field of an email. I discourage sending Word or PDF documents, even though some outlets will request specific documents types, because each outlet is just a bit different on preference. So I've defaulted to sending plain text emails and recommend this to make your life easier, too. If you're sending images, make sure the file is an original, high resolution image file (about 1MB in size is generally good). Smaller, compressed file sizes, or images saved by right clicking on a website or social media image do not translate well for print (TV and radio can sometimes make those smaller images work on their websites).
Here's my main reporter-media email list and you should be able to copy and paste:
Amber Wilmarth <amber.wilmarth@kezi.com>; Ashley Claiborne <ashley@bciradio.com>; Becky Holm <becky@douglascountynews.info>; Joey Keeran <jkeeran@bciradio.com>; Kristin Goodwillie <kgoodwillie@kpic.com>; KPIC general <kpic4news@kpic.com>; Kyle Bailey <kyle@bciradio.com>; Mike Henneke <mhenneke@nrtoday.com>; Sara Mattison <SMattison@kpic.com>
This above is the full list I use for most news/info releases and announcements and hits the big 5 media outlets of KEZI, KPIC, KQEN, The News-Review and Douglas County News.
For specific regions of Douglas County:
North County includes The Drain Enterprise newspaper. The main contact is Editor/Publisher Sue Anderson (drainenterprise@earthlink.net).
South County includes the Douglas County Mail. The main contact is dcmail@dcmail.info.
Districts near borders of other counties may also need to look to the news outlets in those areas. For example, Grants Pass' Daily Courier often covers Glendale School District and North Douglas School District news gets picked up in Eugene-area stations and newspapers. If there are small community newsletters or emails put out in your district's area, I encourage you to contact whoever operates the publication and ask how you can best submit school info.
Have events? Will travel!
Artfully print
AV club: UNITE!
KPIC-TV has a noon Spotlight on Douglas County segment consisting of a five-minute conversation with host Donna Spicer. These are single-take, recorded chats about myriad goings on and doings. The KPIC Spotlight crew does batch tapings on Tuesday mornings and it's best to contact Producer Andrew Pitts apitts@kpic.com several weeks in advance of an event to secure a spot.
KQEN-News Radio also has a live, daily public affairs show from 12:30-1 p.m., during which News Director Kyle Bailey chats with one or two (no more than three) people. Again, if it's advanced event promotion you're looking for, contacting Kyle early is your best bet to get scheduled. If it's an evergreen topic, you may get pick your own date if you plan a few weeks out.
Douglas ESD Communications
Douglas ESD began its communications department in June 2014, offering districts a new service to help reach their various publics and audiences. Our communications specialists work with districts to increase the level of knowledge and understanding in the community on district affairs, teacher innovations and student success. Teach MEdia is an online Good News Ambassador program our communications department has started as a way to offer all districts basic communications strategies everyone -- from supts to students -- can employ to tell their stories. DD Bixby is our full-time communications specialist and Tricia Jones is our part-time communications specialist. Communications is a universal service available to all our region school districts.
Email: dd.bixby@douglasesd.k12.or.us
Website: http://www.douglasesd.k12.or.us/services/communications
Location: 1871 NE Stephens St, Roseburg, OR, United States
Phone: 541-530-3880
Facebook: facebook.com/DouglasESD
Twitter: @Douglas_ESD_