“Give us good news for a change,” say the newsdesks

Written by Stewart Pimbley|15th April 2020

The obvious focus for us over the last few weeks has been to help clients adapt their communications to the new environment we are all operating in. There is an obvious nervousness about making sure that communications are sensitive and much of our support has been about tone and thinking about how messaging will be

The obvious focus for us over the last few weeks has been to help clients adapt their communications to the new environment we are all operating in. There is an obvious nervousness about making sure that communications are sensitive and much of our support has been about tone and thinking about how messaging will be received. Most clients have been focusing on content – what do they say on their website, what is appropriate for each of their social media platforms etc. rather than more traditional media relations. But journalists have papers, websites and social media feeds of their own to fill (and many people have more time to read them) so this channel is still relevant for many organisations. So, what are journalists looking for?

Many of the traditional rules still apply – it must be real news, of interest to people and press releases must be well written and focused. But now, more than ever people want to hear some good news, ideally human interest – and news desks have been asking for good news stories. They want tales of community spirit and local heroes. We have had good coverage with stories around acts of kindness in care homes and successful recruitment drives aimed at those most adversely affected by the impact of the coronavirus. People also want to hear about how organisations are adapting, whether that is changing service delivery models, adapting production to essential items, increasing their social impact or the re-emergence of fading services such as doorstep milk deliveries.

So, when thinking about your channels of communications, don’t forget the journalists. They need your stories now probably more than ever. Let’s help them get some good news out there.