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1、How to Write a Good News Story! Thanks to the Scouters on Scouts-L who contributed to this page. As you know, it is wonderful to watch our youth as they grow through the Scouting program in character, citizenship and moral and physical fitness! Everyone in our community should know what we are doing
2、 and the great education our youth are obtaining through Scouting. Consider having a publicity person in your unit. The local newspapers and TV stations are looking for community stories so we have a great opportunity to tell our story. News releases are easy to write up and many newspapers and TV s
3、tations now have email addresses that you can send them to. Dont forget to send releases to your local church, educational, community or corporate newsletters! Every news release should be written to answer the essential questions of any news item, commonly called the five Ws plus one H:Who will do
4、it?What will they do?When will they do it?Where will they do it?Why will they do it?How will they do it? The structure of the news release is important. It must be written so that the reader has the essential information at the outset. The lead, usually the first paragraph or two, should summarize t
5、he five Ws to give the reader an overview. The rest of the paragraphs will answer the six questions. The longer the news release, the better the reader will understand the news. The news release should be typed double-spaced. The top of the page should include a title, contact name, and telephone nu
6、mber. ALWAYS include the Council Web site address, from there people can find out more about what we do and how to join. Note that if a paper prints your news release and needs to trim off for space, they will trim from the bottom. News releases should be sent out for all sorts of activities, includ
7、ing, but not limited to:Special trips Parent s NightsSpecial events Social ActivitiesService ProjectsElection of OfficersPinewood DerbiesSpring and Fall Recruiting Photos catch the eye of the reader and make a story more interesting. News reporters know this and want a photo in the story as much as
8、you do. If you have a photo, send it to them, but many newspapers would prefer to shoot their own. That means giving them plenty of notice of when your event will take place.Some Tips1. Local weekly and semi-weekly newspapers are much more likely to publish your story. Look on the editorial pages of
9、 those newspapers for a list of phone numbers and e-mail addresses.2. Watch, listen, read your local media and start a list of media outlets that reports on these types of local events.3. Read the paper and get a feel for the writing style. Write a news story not an advertisement. Your article may b
10、e cut so put the most important items up front.4. Write to each company and ask for their guidelines for submissions. This should outline exactly how they wish to be notified about your event. Some request snail mall (not too many now) some will provide a special fax number, others may have a hotlin
11、e, and still others may offer e-mail. They may also request a certain format. Ask about any special issues. They may have a neighborhood section that comes out a specific day of the week, there may be an annual issue with community groups. Ask about deadlines they may have for those issues.5. Keep h
12、olidays in mind. Its a clich, but helping the needy at Christmas, helping with a 4th of July event, etc. is classic scouting and a standard for many papers.6. Submit, submit, and submit. They will not yell at you for overloading their mailbox. They receive dozens to hundreds of them each day/week. T
13、he best ones or ones that catch the editors attention get published.7. It may help if you can make friends with the editor.8. For pictures, actions hots are generally better than lineups but in any case be sure the people in the picture are identifiable. Think about a sports picture and how it usual
14、ly focuses on one or two people-the other six or twenty people who were around the action got cut out by the photo editor. The focus is now on the action and the attention grabber isnt lost in a crowd of people. It helps to provide larger pictures, i.e., 8 x 10, when available. Providing negatives h
15、elps with some papers.9. Sometimes all that will be published is the picture with a caption. Clearly identify everyone in the picture and you may wish to secure releases from the parents of the kids. Some parents may not want a childs picture in the paper.10. Think of how your event is unusual, i.e.
16、, the man bites dog story rather than the dog bites man. Special awards, big numbers, etc should start your story. What is different about your court of honor or event? One unit got some great coverage for their Court of Honor (COH) when the bat lady was the program - Bat Lady Gives Life to Two Scouts. A professor who studies bats showed some slides at the COH in anticipation on an upcoming outing
