Increasingly, the media is contributing to moving research into the public domain. This handout provides researchers with ideas on how they can begin to explore opportunities offered by the media to reach wider audiences than they do now.
WHAT MAKES NEWS
Understanding how journalists make decisions on what gets covered or not is crucial. The following Seven Pillars are used to assess newsworthiness.
- Timeliness
- Proximity
- Rare
- Prominence
- Impact
- Novelty/Newness
- Human Interest
HOW AND WHEN RESEARCH MAKES NEWS
- Breakthroughs.
- Award winning research.
- Human interest – research that links to people’s lived experiences.
- Research that produces negative results immense media interest and attention.
- New research and– any new research is exciting to the media, especially in a world where there is clearly fatigue around certain issues. Journalists are always looking for new angles and stories that pull in new audiences.
- Alternative voices – Nutrition vs. conventional medication
HOW TO MAKE NEWS
Heighten Your Media Literacy
- Be an active consumer of news.
- Note issues that are receiving media coverage. What are the gaps and identify opportunities to plug your own work.
- Keep and organise news clippings.
Actively Seek Ways to Make News
- Use pegs – keep a diary of important events link issues from your research to such events. (UN international days, important national, regional and international meetings).
- Make sure your research is current; it should resonate with thinking and people’s interests. - Blog and speak about your work and draw attention to it.
- Create social networking pages (Facebook and Twitter) and invite media followers. Refresh your pages otherwise you lose readers.
- Facilitate media tours to allow journalists to witness issues your research deals with.
Repackage
- Repackage information to make it easy to read and use.
- Highlight interesting points from your research
– for example, trends, state of economy, cost-benefit analysis, relate it to the economy, will poverty increase? Reduce?
- Connect the dots that are not always obvious.
- Produce news supplements that highlight your research from many angles.
Know Your Media, Build Relationships
- Hold briefing meetings with media to give accurate and informative background to issues.
- Provide journalists with tools to make their work easier. Databases of useful information and people are always handy in any newsroom.
- Know your media, create databases and ensure that they are up-to-date.
- Create and update regularly an inventory of journalists’ networks in your country and region.
- Pay attention to journalists covering your issues. Compliment good journalism and offer constructive criticism where reporting is inaccurate and misleading.
- Understand media needs, how and where they access information to make sure information is strategically targeted.
Remember!
The media is always looking for news. As researchers there is always news around you. Don’t be afraid to engage media.