Press Guidelines

Alerting the Media

Brain Awareness Week provides an excellent opportunity for your organization to garner local coverage in the press. Local media coverage can broaden the reach of any public program. In a competitive news environment, attracting the media can be a challenge, and even the most well orchestrated media approach may not be successful. But, the effort should be made.

Your best route is the press or communications office at your organization. Here you will find professionals who are comfortable working with the press, and know the local press well. You should contact them first before making your own forays. Be prepared when you speak with your press office; have the details about your program and the boilerplate language about the campaign of which it is a part. Some press departments appreciate a draft release from which to work; others operate with their own standard formats and simply require the raw information. It's often best to ask and always best to work with the press staff than at cross-purposes.

In working with the press directly, there are a few guidelines one should follow:

1. A media advisory about the event should be sent to local print and broadcast outlets at least four days before the event. An advisory should be no more than one page and reflect the following information: what, where, when, how, and why. Be sure to give a contact name and number.
2. Press releases are helpful before or after an event. Press releases should be no more than three to three-and-a-half pages in length, with 1.5 or 2.0 line spacing. A sample from the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives is included in this section.
3. Newspaper and local radio calendar listings should be included in your list of contacts.
4. Letters to the Editor and Op-Ed pieces also provide excellent opportunities to discuss issues and events. Letters should be brief and focused on one main theme. Newspapers always reserve the right to edit. Op-Ed pieces help to bring reader attention to issues or events. The piece should be written by a person who is an authority on the subject matter. Here too, the paper reserves the right to edit.

In alerting the media to your Brain Awareness Week program, remember that your participation in an international campaign may make your individual story more newsworthy.

Don't forget to mention local partners and sponsors. Even if a media story fails to mention all those entities that have made your program possible, it is important that the organizers make the acknowledgement. Sometimes, too, local partnerships, e.g. a university department pairing up with a local scout troop, or a school district teaming with an EMT unit of an area hospital, are an attractive local dimension to a story that may get the item into print or on local radio or television stations.

What to Remember About Brain Awareness Week

Remember:

Please note that the Campaign Clearinghouse is unable to assist individual partners in the writing or distribution of press materials. The Campaign Clearinghouse receives many calls from journalists looking to cover local events. The Brain Awareness Week News Office will direct inquiries to your organization, provided it has information about your events.