News Releases

The primary way in which we convey information to the media is through the news release, which we either send by mail, fax, or electronic mail. When we want to get information out to as many people as possible, the news release is still the best vehicle for that purpose in this area. Releases are mailed out usually twice a week, to an average of 130 media outlets. In the case of "breaking news," we rely on transmission by fax or e- mail.

QUESTION: How do I go about getting a news release sent out? First, we strongly discourage departments and offices from sending out information to the media. Media mailing lists are long and ever-changing. It takes constant attention to keep them up-to-date.

We have found that several problems arise when departments don't make use of the services of University Relations. First, they don't send information widely enough. Our media market extends far beyond Johnson City. Not using our office will result in missed opportunities for publicity. Second, we are ourselves "media outlets" in a sense, because we publish a faculty-staff newsletter, Accent; operate a public radio station, WETS-FM; and maintain the ETSU World Wide Web home page. Failure to inform us about an event will result in a lack of coverage through these three very important vehicles. Third, it is our job to make information available to the media in a form they can use. We don't expect departments to be knowledgeable of The Associated Press Stylebook, which specifies the standard style we use in writing our news releases. We follow the Stylebook in order to minimize the amount of rewriting to be done in the newsroom. This increases the likelihood that a release will get picked up, particularly by smaller papers whose staffs don't have time to do a lot of rewriting.

TIP: If you are in need of publicity for an event, give us as much lead time as possible. Four to six weeks is preferable. This will allow us time to ensure sufficient internal coverage through Accent, and will give us the opportunity to get your event notice published in events calendars and in publications that only publish once or twice a month, such as The Business Journal Serving Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Please refer to the News Bureau section of this handbook for more information on deadlines.

Events constitute a large percentage of our news releases, but we're looking for far more. We're interested in feature stories about faculty and student accomplishments, trends in higher education, trends in your area of professional expertise, new employees, new projects or initiatives. We'd like to know about a faculty member's unusual hobby, a student who has overcome personal obstacles to graduate from ETSU, that out-of-the-ordinary thesis topic. When Doug Powell completed his master's thesis in English on wrestling as myth and ritual, the local Associated Press reporter wrote a story that was carried nationwide.

TIP: When proposing a story to us, consider first of all the audience. Who is most likely to be interested in the story? We'll help answer that question and then identify the best medium to use in telling your story.

We get story ideas in many ways, from a casual comment from a colleague over a punch-and-cookies reception at the Reece Museum to a neatly drafted news release. Any method is OK with us. If you need something publicized, you can call us with the details, send us a note, e-mail us, or stop by the office. Perhaps we'll want to set up an interview with you ourselves.
Once we are notified of a news item, what do we do? One option is to write a news release, as described above. But there are many others.