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Not Really News: The 8 Item Checklist to Make Sure

By: Marijean Jaggers | 09/20/2010

A PR colleague of mine was having a fit. No one in the media wanted to cover her client's event and were passing her off to the advertising sales departments. My colleague thought the event was newsworthy enough, why didn't the local media?

I told her I thought it was a convergence of two situations. One, television and print advertising departments are very hungry for sales. Without these sales the media outlets can't continue to provide their services. News departments are quick to pass on a piece that might be better shared with advertising dollars and that strikes them as "too commercial." It's typically a fair assessment. The second part is whether the news was really newsworthy. I've blogged about my list of eight news values before; it's something I really believe in and go back to any time there's a question or a challenge to create something that IS worth news coverage on behalf of a client.

Going forward, my colleague needs to create some opportunities for her client that line up under these headings, creating potential for an entire year's worth of coverage.

1. Proximity -- is location a factor? What's happening right in the client's back yard?

2. Prominence -- has someone famous aligned themselves with the company?

3. Significance -- is this the first of its kind anywhere in the world? The biggest?

4. Timeliness -- is there something happening "today only" or for a limited time?

5. Human interest -- is there a story to be told about the owner of the company, its employees or its customers? There's potential for a whole series of stories here.

6. Unusualness -- what makes this story or this client really different from its competition? What is happening that rarely happens anywhere?

7. Conflict -- this is not always the direction you want your news to take, but if your client has come into conflict with a customer, local authorities or a competing entity, the story may become that news rather than the news you want to share.

8. Currency (newness) -- the value in news that is new lasts about two seconds in today's speed-driven communications. It's tricky to get in front of a story and share something that's new, and it won't be news unless you're the very first to break it.

The next time your "news" gets passed over, try it against this checklist and see if it's really worthy.

Posted in Public Relations