[Editors] MIT Editors' Club Minutes, 3/10/2004

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from March 10, 2004*

Many thanks to the Editors who attended this meeting and kept it 
jumping with queries about everything from photos to video to tips 
for faculty about working with the media.

*Video*

Hear ye, hear ye: send Elizabeth (yep, me) all story ideas about MIT 
research that's particularly visual. Come to think of it, send me all 
good MIT story ideas period, but I digress....

I'd like to ramp up production of News Office videos about MIT 
research, but to do so I need story ideas. The videos I'm referring 
to are produced on beta tapes (so TV crews can use them) and contain 
about 30 minutes of unedited (b-roll) footage that can be crafted 
into individual stories by TV producers. They also have lots of other 
uses: for example, clips can be run on plasma screens outside  MIT 
labs, and have been used in presentations by admissions officers and 
others.

I mentioned to the group that we work with MIT Video Productions to 
produce these visual gems, and others quickly jumped in with kudos 
for that office. For example, Catherine Avril of the School of 
Engineering mentioned that MVP is now maintaining the plasma screen 
display outside their office. As I think I've mentioned before, MVP 
has a host of other services including a TV studio and radio suite. 
Go to http://web.mit.edu/amps/facilities/video.html for more info or 
send a note to MVP Director Larry Gallagher at ldg at MIT.EDU.

*Faculty and the Media*

Heather Denny, the new communications director for the Libraries, 
asked if any of us had "communications information" that we share 
with faculty or other staff about how to work with the media. We had 
several suggestions:

--In fall 2002 Kathryn Willmore, Vice President and Secretary of the 
Corporation, initiated a series of  communications workshops for MIT 
communicators. (Most MIT communications offices, including the News 
Office, report to Kathryn.) One of the workshops was on the topic of 
"working with the news media."  Go to the following URL for more info:
http://web.mit.edu/commworkshops/

--Jack Curtis of the Museum noted that Lesley University has a great 
web site titled "What is News" that's through their office of Public 
Affairs. Go to http://www.lesley.edu/public_affairs/mediatips.html

--In 1995 I was interviewed for an article FOR RESEARCHERS about how 
to work with university Public Information Officers (PIOs). The story 
is below.

--A great little book on the whole subject is Media Guide for 
Academics by Joann Ellison Rodgers and William C. Adams. It was 
published in 1994 by the Foundation for American Communications. I 
don't know if it's still in print, but the foundation can be reached 
at 213-851-7372.

--Please, as always, feel free to contact the News Office with 
questions about working with the media. You can start with me 
(thomson at mit.edu or 8-5402), and I'll get you to the correct person.

*MIT Photos*
Nancy DuVergne Smith, Communications Director for the Center for 
Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development, is putting together a 
poster for her group and is looking for photos. Does the News Office 
have a photo archive that she could explore to that end? The quick 
answer: no, but we're working on it. We *do,* however, have an index 
of subjects for photos taken by our photographer, Donna Coveney. If 
you have further questions about photos, please contact my News 
Office colleague Mary Anne Hansen at mahansen at mit.edu or x3-8608.

The Publishing Services Bureau is another place to peruse for MIT 
photos. Visit their web site to see their photo archive, 
http://web.mit.edu/psb/.

Cheers!

Elizabeth

===================================
Elizabeth A. Thomson
Assistant Director, Science & Engineering News
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
News Office, Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
617-258-5402 (ph); 617-258-8762 (fax)
<thomson at mit.edu>

<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www>
===================================


[From SPECTRA, the monthly membership newsletter of the Speech Communication
Association, February, 1995, issue]

Grantswatch

GET TO KNOW YOUR P.I.O.
by
William F. Eadie


Recently, I received a thank-you note from an SCA member whose
research had been featured in a story that appeared in her
hometown paper; as it happened, I had been responsible for
recommending her to the reporter.  She appreciated my efforts and
sent me another paper that represented her current research
interests, asking me to recommend her for that topic as well.
While I'll be happy to do so, I started to wonder why the public
information officer at her university hadn't recommended her
also.  It got me to thinking about how many, if not most,
academics in communication fail to have their research covered by
their local universities, and so I placed an electronic "want ad"
for public information officers (PIOs) to share their advice
about how faculty could best deal with them.  I received thirteen
responses, from institutions ranging in size and scope from
M.I.T. to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.  Some of their
advice was similar, some of it varied by the kind of institution
involved, but it was useful enough that I wanted to pass it
along.

All of the PIOs were interested in learning about faculty
research, and all of them said that the best way they had of
finding out was to hear directly from the faculty themselves.
"Getting them to notify us is one of our biggest problems," said
Ray Jones of Winthrop University.  "Usually we find out about
things by accident, or via a dean, and when we confront them one
on one, they say, `Oh yes, I did discover a cure for AIDS last
week.  I didn't know it would interest you.'"  Jo Parris, at
Idaho State University, put it most directly, "What's the best
way for a faculty member to approach you to ask for publicity?
Call our office."

PIOs also develop their own methods of finding out about
interesting projects.  Parris reads lists of faculty research
grants, Elizabeth Thomson of M.I.T. reads departmental
newsletters and attends public lectures by faculty, and Larry
Anderson of DePauw University attends faculty meetings and stays
in touch with faculty doing potentially newsworthy work about
their projects as they mature.  But, all encourage faculty to
make contact.  As Ken Service of the University of Pittsburgh
commented, "Whatever the method--phone call, e-mail, campus mail-
-the initial contact can be brief, even a sentence or two--just
something to alert us to get back to the faculty member to follow
up."

Once you've made the contact, be prepared to explain to the PIO
what you're working on and why it might be newsworthy.
"Newsworthy," can be defined according to Bill Brophy of Hartwick
College as "Why should I care?"  Chris Rutkowski of the
University of Manitoba put it this way, "Perhaps even before the
point [of the initial phone call], though, is to reflect on the
intrinsic "interestingness" of the research you want to pitch . . . Is there
an `angle' that's really worth pitching to the media?"  Thinking in these
terms may be difficult for many faculty, PIOs agreed.  As Service of
Pittsburgh said, "Recognize that if you want coverage in the popular press,
your research findings will have to be simplified for distribution to the
news
media."  Ruth Wardwell of Chapman University goes so far as to hold media
relations seminars for faculty "in an effort to familiarize
professors with how journalists do their jobs.  That sounds so
basic, but many professors don't have a clue."

Once you and your PIO have found a "hook" for your research, most
PIOs wanted to be left alone to be creative; after all, as Brophy
of Hartwick commented, "That's what we do best."  Denise Horton,
at the University of Georgia, shared a story of how Don Rubin,
chair of the Speech Communication Department, called her about
some findings that showed students believed they had more trouble
understanding Asian graduate teaching assistants, even when they
were objectively as comprehensible as nonAsian teaching
assistants.  As Denise described it, "Don was excited about his
subject and was able to explain it well; and, he was willing to
take the phone calls from reporters that inevitably come from
sending out a good story."  As a result, the study was reported
in USA Today, Lingua Franca, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and was
picked up by the AP wire.

When should you call?  All of the PIOs agreed: with as much lead
time as possible before a specific event associated with your
research.  Robert Conn at Wake Forest University indicated that
PIOs are happy to know of pending papers to be presented at
conferences or articles to be published in journals--and that
sending them abstracts with presentation or publication dates
helps them to plan (all of the PIOs sounded like they were
overworked!).  According to Marianne Cianciolo of the University
of Cincinnati, "Timing can be everying."  Calling right before
doesn't allow for enough time to find a "hook" and decide where
to send the releases; calling after it's all over is even worse,
because then it's "old" news.

What if you make the effort and nothing happens?  Follow up with
the PIO.  Not every story will "merit the cover of Time
magazine," as Pittsburgh's Service said.  "Don't take it as a
personal affront if your research does not turn out to be as
newsworthy as you thought it was."  Talk to your PIO.  Look for a
different angle.  Stay in touch.  As Westminster's Jim Muench
said, "I try to get them to think about how we could best package
the story to make it catch a reporter's eye."  Long-term
relationships with PIOs generally pay off in more coverage, and
who knows--it might even help the utility of your research
program.

So, get to know your PIO.  You'll be glad you did.
-- 
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