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Media coverage can vastly increase a community's knowledge of and participation in any event. The suggestions offered here are intended to help you interest the media in occupational therapy events that reflect the profession's stake in the health and well-being of individuals and the community. Develop a Media List. Focus on the consumer topics that correspond to your event or issue, such as health, family, children, education, aging, or consumer safety. Make a list or database of the following: daily and weekly newspapers, newspaper supplements, and special sections or columns that cover those topics; radio stations; television stations including local cable channels; and Web-based community news sites. The media list should include contact names, addresses, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses of the editors, radio division directors, television news and program producers, and the reporters and columnists you have targeted. You can also place event information in community calendars published in newspaper special sections. Calendars have strict deadlines and limitations on the number of words you can include. Identify an occupational therapy Spokesperson who can speak authoritatively on pertinent issues, is comfortable with the media, and is able to be at the event (and available for possible telephone interviews before and after the event). It is good to have a back-up spokesperson. Delivering on the interview is important to developing good media relationships for future issues and activities. A person of prominence in the community will increase the media who attend your event. Develop a Press Kit. Include a press release with the name of a local contact and spokesperson; educational or background information on the event and the health issues impacted by the event, for example, articles from OT Practice or other professional publications; relevant Tips for Living; a bio of your spokesperson with a photograph if one is available; and background information on the occupational therapy organization sponsoring the event (such as your state or district occupational therapy association or local school of occupational therapy). Include previously published articles that highlight occupational therapy contributions to the community and any other information that will help convey your message. Tailor Materials to local community concerns. Relate the information to topical events and any previous awareness actions that were taken in your community or issues that were publicly raised. Including a local angle will increase your likelihood of getting coverage or air time. Personalize media outreach materials with the name of your state occupational therapy organization and the name of a knowledgeable contact person available and willing to talk to reporters. Contact the media. Telephone or e-mail the editors and reporters on your list. (If this is a long list, it's a good idea to make an "A list" and a "B list" to make media outreach manageable with limited time and human resources. Prioritize reporters with whom you already have a relationship and those who you think will be most interested in the subject matter.) Give the date, place, time, and participants in the event. As succinctly as possible, touch on the major points of the event, including why the issue is important to the reporter's readers or audience. Offer the reporter a chance to do an interview with your spokesperson prior to the event to get a feel for the issues that occupational therapy practitioners are concerned about. Tell the reporter that you will send information, and then do it right away. Send out press kits to reporters requesting more information . Include a cover letter that introduces yourself or your organization as a resource on occupational therapy, and that "pitches" your event as an event that they will definitely want to cover for their readers or audiences. Personalize mailings by addressing materials to individuals rather than departments. Time your mailings. Calendar sections, weekly publications, and newspaper special sections often fill available space well in advance, while city editors make final decisions about which events to cover the day before or day of the event, depending on breaking news (that is why editors may say they can or can't put you in their "daybook"). It's a good idea to send city editors a media advisory 2 or 3 days before the event. Follow up mailings with phone calls. Ask if the material was received, reiterate major points of the event and health issues, and ask if you can provide any additional information that would get them to come to your event and get your story published or broadcast. Request that they e-mail their finished story or send you a "tear sheet" (the page containing the published article) if they cover the event or adapt the information you have provided. Set up a Press Table at the event . Have a clipboard with a sign-in sheet so that you can keep track of who attends. Have press kits and your business cards available. Make sure your spokesperson is available to speak with members of the press. Try to have someone at the table at all times to direct the press and coordinate press interviews with the spokesperson and other event participants. Evaluate the effectiveness of your media outreach. Which reporters came to your event and which did not? Sometimes it's just a matter of timing. An unanticipated, breaking news event can pull media attention away from a planned event. If other news pulls media attention away from the event, follow-up afterwards with reporters who seemed interested when you first pitched to them. Ask them to do a story on the issues around which your event was based, and then set up experts for them to interview. Monitor which materials you provided were printed or adapted, and which were not selected. Analyze the reasons information was or wasn't utilized so that you can adapt your approach the next time you pitch occupational therapy issues to the media.
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