On 8/15/05, Bruce Byfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, 2005-08-16 at 01:25 +0100, Daniel Carrera wrote: > > Bruce Byfield wrote: > > > > > OOo had a good start about 15 months ago when Robin Miller from the OSTG > > > group (Newsforge, Slashdot) gave an IRC seminar in how to write an > > > effective news release. Unfortunately, nobody in OOo seems to have taken > > > what he said to heart. > > > > I did. But trying to get a press release or an article through all the > > bureocracy is an exercise in frustration. I know of one volunteer who > > quit because she worked very hard for days on a press release that would > > have made interesting news and her work was promptly shot down. > > Yes, now that you remind me, you did. Unfortunately, being PR liasion > would be a full-time effort. I think you could do the job, but you're > focused on other things, and so far haven't got around to being cloned. > > Maybe a group working full-time on media contact is what's needed. A > regular group that had proven itself to the project might eventually be > able to get news out more quickly. > > If you're thinking of the same case as I am, she wasn't working on a > news release, but a story, and her work was pre-empted by another story > on the same topic. > > That was unfortunate, but such things happen sometimes. However, they > happen much less frequently if editors know a writer and have learned to > trust them from past performance. This is part of what I mean about > building a relationship with media people. > > But, at any rate, a story isn't a news release, although many companies > try to blur the distinction and less reputable journalists are only too > happy to go along with them. What OOo needs isn't someone to write > stories so much as someone to provide the bare bones of stories, either > through writing news releases or announcing that they are available for > interviews. That means developing a sense of what makes a story, knowing > what type of story appeals to different people in the media, and then > delivering the facts that can be shaped into a story as quickly as > possible. > > -- > Bruce Byfield 604-421.7177 > http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield >
Good words Bruce, I am currently reading a book on how to conduct PR through the media and your statements really hit home with this book. I like your idea of the PR group working with media contact. *If* anything like this does develop I think this should be a voted on position. I would like the ability for us to somewhat control who says what. By no means do I mean to make this more beureaucratic, the voted on group can make decisions on their own, I would just like it to be a set of trusted individuals. -- Adam Moore Community Volunteer OOo blog: AdamMooreOOo.blogspot.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
