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Globe and Mail column: What to do when a reporter calls
High Road president Mia Wedgbury recently started a PR column in the Small Business section of The Globe and Mail’s online edition. This is her second column.
What to do when a reporter calls
Our popular perception of journalists has largely been shaped by movies and best-selling novels. For some, it brings to mind the image of the fedora-wearing, whisky swilling newspaper man who loves a sensational headline. Or perhaps it’s the unscrupulous, pit-bull TV news reporter that comes to mind, followed by her camera person as she barges in on some hapless executive.
These popular—and often misleading—notions might explain why a friend of mine, who is the president of a small technology company, recently called me. I could tell from her voice that she was concerned. Turns out a reporter’s curiosity was piqued by her business and, as a result, he called looking to set up an interview for an article. "What do I do?" she asked me nervously.
Read the full column at Globeandmail.com.
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What to do when a reporter calls.
In the first place, there is no need to panic. If you sent out a press release, a call from a reporter is exactly what you hoped would happen. I have been on both sides of this equation. I was a TV current affairs producer for fifteen years, ten of those as the series producer at CBC’s “the fifth estate”. I forget the name of the TV detective in a 1950s’ series whose iconic line was “Just the facts, Ma’am,” but that’s a line worth remembering. Prepare to hear it and respond. The majority of reporters want just that, especially those covering technology. We, or should I say “they,” are not into entrapment. Just a good tight story.
Writing tight stories is what I did next, and still do. Clients for case studies have called to ask for prompts when reporters call them, but I can truthfully tell them that what the journalist wants is a fleshed-out angle on the published story, fresh quotes, and more details about the solution, complete with customer names from which to source additional quotes.
So invite the reporter around, or speak on the phone as if you were at a networking meeting or a convention. Don’t make it a big deal. On one level it isn’t. On another, if you marshal your facts ahead of time it just might make your day.
Robert Fripp