This is one of the first things business owners and organisation leaders ask me when we first meet to talk about how Public Relations can help them achieve their goals.
The quick answer is it depends how relevant and useful to their readers, listeners or viewers each media outlet feels your story is.
That’s one of 14 factors listed, in order, by Tony Harcup and Deirdre O’Neil in a 2016 update of their 2001 seminal work on defining ‘News Values’ – what the media accept as a news story.
Here’s the list of ‘boxes’ your story has to ‘tick’ at least one of in order to qualify for coverage as news in UK media
- Exclusivity: stories generated first by a named news outlet
- Bad news: Stories with negative overtones, such as conflict or tragedy
- Conflict: stories about controversies, arguments, strikes, warfare
- Surprise: stories that have an element that surprises people
- Audio-visuals: stories with arresting images, video or audio
- Shareability: stories likely to be engaged with on social media
- Entertainment: Stories that people find humorous
- Drama: stories about an unfolding event, such as accidents or court cases
- Follow-up: Stories about subjects that have already been in the news, either very recently or on an anniversary
- Relevance: stories perceived to be relevant to the audience
- Magnitude: stories perceived as significant because of the number of people involved or the impact
- Celebrity: stories about people who are already famous
- Good news: stories with positive overtones, such as rescues and cures
- News organisation’s agenda: Stories that fit the news organisation’s agenda.
The more boxes it can tick, the stronger story it is.
Other things to consider
You also have to consider:
- Who is this relevant to?
- What do I want them to as a result of being exposed to this (the Business or Communication Outcomes)?
- What media do they consume?
- What other communication channels do they use that we can reach them on, including ones we control?
- If my story isn’t news, would it be a Feature? And if so, in which media?
- When would be the best time to have this published? Do you have something in mind for this trigger?
- What SMART targets do you want to set for the Outcomes of this story?
- What pictures, video or audio can we provide with the words (Copy)?
- What’s my budget?
Have a think about all this, write down your answers and contact me if you think you have a good story.
Thinking of using PR to help reach your business goals?
Get in touch with me because I’m:
- CIPR-qualified (only a third of PRs are) ✅
- CIPR-Accredited ✅
- Highly experienced ✅
- Highly-recommended (29 client Recommendations) ✅
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Alan Anstead for the update on Harcup & O’Neill and Maud Davis for sharing his post.