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Extension Marketing Resources |
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NewspapersUT Extension makes positive impacts in communities throughout the state every day. The more our story is told, the better it is for Extension. Appearing in the newspaper is an effective method of telling Extension’s story. A media interview, news release or speech published in the local paper can be a great opportunity to enhance public awareness of and support for Extension. As an added benefit, effective positive publicity can actually boost morale among employees and volunteers. We all share in the pride of accomplishment when our work is shown to be of value to the community. UTIA’s Marketing and Communications Services helps UT Extension agents and specialists tell their positive stories. The unit actively distributes stories of statewide interest to newspapers and various trade publications throughout the state and region. It maintains a Web site where agents and specialists and members of the media and general public and can review Extension and UTIA news releases (http://agriculture.tennessee.edu/news/releases/) and it maintains a separate Web site where agents and specialists can adapt authorized releases for use with their own local media and other appropriate audiences (http://www.agriculture.utk.edu/webPacket/). Tools that can help agents promote activities that may not be appropriate for statewide release include:
The newspaper can’t cover a story if it doesn’t know about it. One tool for informing the media about potential stories is a media advisory. These are used particularly to inform the media of events. Here is a sample media advisory: For Immediate Release - September 23, 2004 MEDIA ADVISORY What: Where: When: Details: A street fair of interactive exhibits and displays will feature the academic programs of the College Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Parking will be available in lots 60 and 61 around Morgan Hall, in lot 66 behind the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and in any other available spaces. A shuttle bus to the UT-Louisiana Tech football game will be available for Ag Day visitors. Meals and snacks may be purchased on site from Back Yard Burgers. ### Contact: Amy Yancey Jenkins, (865) 974-8622 On the Web: http://agday.tennessee.edu ### Note that the format is flush left to make it easy to cut and paste into an e-mail. Never send an attachment to a newspaper unless they ask for it. Most papers have filters that automatically screen attachments. If you are snail-mailing a media advisory, or FAXing it, then type the information on county letterhead. Limiting the information to one side of a printed page is appreciated by media receiving the advisory. Time your media advisory so that the paper receives it well before editors have made their assignments. Even with daily papers, think in terms of weekly assignments. For example the garden section may be published only on Monday, so the editorial deadline is likely the preceding Friday. A media advisory for that audience should go out on Tuesday or Wednesday. News sections have shorter production cycles.
If the paper can’t or doesn’t send a reporter to your event, the paper may be interested in publishing a news release submitted by your office. News releases are also useful tools to tell about successful projects or awards. Although reporting and news-writing skills can require years of study, most news stories can be summed up by "five Ws and an H."
News stories have a definite structure. They get to the point fast. The most important facts of the story should be presented in the first sentence or two (the summary lead), with details following in order of importance: SUMMARY--------------LEAD This way of organizing facts is called the "inverted pyramid." This type of structure is important because:
Study examples of good news stories to see how reporters put them together. Until you have written several news stories, list the facts in order of importance before you start to write. Here is a sample news release: For Immediate Release – September 11, 2003 UT Beef Expo Focuses on Increasing Profits (GREENEVILLE, Tenn.) -- Increasing profits for beef producers will be the focus of the 2003 Northeast Tennessee Beef Expo. Scheduled for October 9, the free event will be held at the Clyde Austin 4-H Center in Greeneville. The event is co-sponsored and coordinated by the UT Agricultural Extension Service and the Agricultural Experiment Station. Registration and a trade show will begin at 7:00 a.m., and the program will begin at 8:30. Participants are encouraged to preregister with their local Agricultural Extension office by September 29 to receive lunch as part of the program. The expo is intended to aid producers in identifying and understanding new technologies and information already available that can improve the overall competitiveness of their beef cattle operations. The overall focus is quality management and quality cattle. Organizers claim that if producers would employ better forage management, better genetic selection, and best marketing practices as well as reduce death loss, then they could add $50 more value to each calf. If that were to occur, an additional $50 million could be realized to the state’s current $380 million of beef production. Featured speakers include Ken Givens, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, and Dr. John Stika, director of feeder-packer relations with Certified Angus Beef. Forage production and storage, when to help a calving cow, and cattle mineral requirements are among the topics to be discussed by UT experts. A weaning demonstration will be part of the afternoon program. The Clyde Austin 4-H Center is located adjacent to the UT Tobacco Experiment Station off U.S. Highway 70 approximately 5 miles south of Greeneville. Directions and a map are available online at http://www.clydeaustin4hcenter.com/directions.htm. ### Contacts: Milton Orr, Greene County Extension Agent, 423-798-1710;
Feature stories are different from straight news stories in both structure and style. They seldom follow the inverted-pyramid format of the straight news story. The first paragraph of a feature story sets the tone of the story and grabs the reader's attention. It should not summarize the facts as the first paragraph of a straight news story should. Feature leads may be creative. They may be sentence fragments or address an abstract concept rather than who, what, where, when, why or how. Most newspapers prefer to leave feature writing to their own reporters, so the best way to introduce one to your local paper is to alert the appropriate local reporter or editor of a feature story possibility. As a backup plan, if your newspaper is open to a submission (check first!), then try your hand at feature writing. Remember to avoid opinion, excess description, clichés and complicated construction.
The personal column is among the traditional publications written by Extension agents. These “intimate” musings from the agent to the reader often appear at regular intervals in publications.
Publicity is an important tool for conveying Extension’s message. In the context of "news" (as opposed to advertising), the positive impacts Extension has on a community can be demonstrated to general audiences and to our agricultural clients as well. For more information, select one of the following:
Extension Faculty and Staff Resources
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Institute of Agriculture · Knoxville Tennessee 37996-4505
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