Putting the relations in media relations. How to work with a reporter. The 3rd presentation from the 8th annual media relations summer camp presented by the Hamilton Spectator and Mohawk College.

1. How to work with a reporter
Media relations summer camp
2015

2. Reporters want three
things from you.
They want to go
home on time.
They want a story
that people will talk
about.
And they want you to
add colour to the
story.

3. Be accessible.

4. Be a good host.

5. Be bold.
Be brief.
Be quiet.
Be yourself.

7. Speak in
soundbites.

9. Have a tweetable moment.

10. What’s the one
thing you want
everyone to
remember?

11. From hello to goodbye, everything you say
is on the record.

12. Keep it professional.
The reporter is not your BFF.

13. Don’t be a PITA.

14. Don’t…
• Ask to review and approve the story in advance.
• Talk for 60 minutes and then say “everything I just
told you is off the record”
• Tell the reporter what the real story is.
• Yell at the reporter for the headline.
• Make a big deal out of a small error.

15. Here’s the difference your story has made…