CAP & The Press -- Negative versus Positive News

[RADIOMAN015]

Well sorry my orignal post subject was just a bit too strong just to try to illustrate how many people would read that post versus the new subject.   

HOWEVER, we've seen in the past that when something negative happends in CAP or elsewhere such as murders, drug busts,  riots/fights, etc..   the local press (TV & printed media) tends to dwell on the same story for days.

The good news however, is almost always a one shot deal.   Locally in our area, even getting TV coverage of CAP activities is very difficult.  I've been told by one of the TV station's weekend news producer, that they have limited staffing and have to cover the stories that their competitors & what their research shows have an interest.  So crimes, car accidents, etc get the priority.

Even with newspaper articles, generally you aren't going to see "CAP Cadet Gets Award & Promotion" on the front page of the local regional newspaper, but it will be tucked away somewhere in the paper.

I don't have an answer to this problem.  BUT it is disheartening to see cadets work so hard & achieve so much, yet not get a lot of general public recognition for their achievements

RM     

[NCRblues]

Also, most of the local populace will see cadet joeblow getting promoted as sort of an after school activity and not connected to service to the country. The genpop does not understand, nor truly have any way to find out what civil air patrol really is. "kids in camo" is a term on whiteman (from active duty personnel) I hear a lot, once again they do not understand what cap is and those who do, do not speak against those who dislike or do not understand cap. There is a large feeling against civil air patrol in the enlisted world of the air force, which moves onto civilians as well.

[MIKE]

Not to be mean, but a cadet or senior getting a promotion or an award isn't really news.  Most people, even people in CAP aren't really going to care unless it is somebody they know.

I remember seeing the Coast to Coast section of CAP News or even the online feed, and a lot of it was peoples promotions or squadron award ceremonies.

[BillB]

The key to a news release getting printed or on TV is "News Value". More often than not, a PAO sends out every little event or activity a Squadron has. Who cares if the cadets held a car wash to raise money for encampment? On the other hand if Cadet Jones is ranked the outstaning cadet at a 300 cadet encampment, that has news value.
OPSEC is a problem for the media. Every IC or Commander is afraid to give any information out on a mission for example for fear of security. Encampment PAOs are quit often told not to give information to the media. Fear of looking like a boot camp or making the staff look bad. I'll lert you know about that on Monday since I have an assignment from a local TV station to cover an encampment.

[Smithsonia]

We talk about this topic a fair amount. I advise that some PAOs go to the seach box and Plug in "Public Information", "News Coverage." Etc. Read the various discussions and reflect upon the conversations so far.

If you are a PAO, Public Information Officer, then PUBLIC, is your first name. What makes it public? Why should the public care? What interesting things make me (as a viewer or reader) want to watch or read your story. What significance for me is found in your story?

So, do the leg work. Put in the time. Do the job of the journalist. Do the job of the assignment editor. Do the job for the viewer or reader. DO THE WORK and you will be rewarded with a story in your local or maybe even National
News.

I'm a historian in CAP. My real line of work has been in journalism and media marketing for 40 years. After many complaints from the Wing Staff, my Squadron Commander, and Squadron Mates... I set about to show them how wrong they were about the media. How complaining gets them nowhere. How learning what and how to do good PAO/marketing/positive CAP stories pays off.

You can click here and see the entire thing unfold, even having to defend my work to members of CapTalk: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=6642.0

Getting media coverage is EASY. Doing the leg work, research, set up, selling of the story...
is HARD. So learn or quit complaining. We generated 20-25 statewide news stories about a positive event that happened 30 years ago in the Colorado CAP. It was straightforward and we got exactly the coverage that I had predicted.

Remember, COMPLAINING IS WORTHLESS. ONLY HARD WORK WILL DO. I can train a chimpanzee to write a news release. I can't train one in one thousand humans to write a good story. Trust me, I train people with solid journalism credits all day. Most of the time - they are mediocre - So give the media what they can never produce on their own... A good story.

[RiverAux]

It is pretty hard to generate negative press coverage about CAP.  It pretty much has to be disaster-level stuff for the papers to be interested in it.  Positive coverage is by far the rule whenever we get coverage.

Sometimes I envy those CAP units in the very small towns where pretty much anything you send in is likely to be in the paper.  Those small town units have a lot of other things that work against them, but public affairs sure is a lot easier.   

[Rotorhead]

On the other hand if Cadet Jones is ranked the outstaning cadet at a 300 cadet encampment, that has news value.

Not really, I'm sorry to say.

You're not going to get coverage on TV or in a major daily on that story.

Maybe, if you're lucky, in a community paper.

You need to ask the question, "Why would anyone other and a CAP member care about my story?" If we find a plane, save a missing hiker, or the like, then, yes, you should be able to get that covered.

But after 25 years in TV news, many of them as an Assignment Editor (the person who decides what gets covered), I can tell you, a  CAP promotion ceremony is not going to be covered.

[JohnKachenmeister]

The PAO has to do the legwork for the local paper.  Write the copy (to AP stylebook standards) and submit a GOOD photo (NOT a grip-and-grin).

Then the local paper, if they have the room after they sell the advertising and cover the local city council's resolution to spend $3 million to re-upholster their own chairs, might put your story in the community weekly news section.

Better coverage?  Write a feature on some innovative new training you are doing to prepare for ES missions.  Include LOTS of good pictures.

Face it... A Mitchell Award is a big event in a cadet's life.  But as far as the general public is concerned, how many graduates of the public schools in America even know who Billy Mitchell was?

[ColonelJack]

I'm the PAO in my unit.  I'm also the evening news anchorman for the local television station -- which, come to think of it, may be why I'm the PAO in my unit.

As anchorman (and chief editor) of TV-33 News, I can tell you with certainty that most things that happen in a CAP unit will not make the 11:00 report.  They are news, but as Kach said, a Mitchell is big in a cadet's life -- but not in the community at large.

See, the issue in my bailiwick is time.  I have a 30 minute newscast.  Give six to eight minutes to commercials (without which I don't have a paycheck), and that leaves 22 to 24 minutes.  (With today's economy, we'll go with 24 minutes.)  The weather is a good five-minute segment -- that leaves 19 minutes.  Another five to seven minutes for sports, and you have 12 to 14 minutes.  CAP now has to compete with accidents, murders, fires, political foolishness, and the occasional celebrity death.  Why a celebrity death is more important than a CAP story would take way too long to explain.

We might wish it were otherwise, you and I ... but, as Durante said, "Those are the conditions what prevail."

To add to the point ... the only reason CAP got national coverage during the Steve Fossett search was because of the high profile of who they were searching for.  (But then you already knew that, didn't you?    )

Jack

[ColonelJack]

The PAO has to do the legwork for the local paper.  Write the copy (to AP stylebook standards) and submit a GOOD photo (NOT a grip-and-grin).

Then the local paper, if they have the room after they sell the advertising and cover the local city council's resolution to spend $3 million to re-upholster their own chairs, might put your story in the community weekly news section.

Better coverage?  Write a feature on some innovative new training you are doing to prepare for ES missions.  Include LOTS of good pictures.

Face it... A Mitchell Award is a big event in a cadet's life.  But as far as the general public is concerned, how many graduates of the public schools in America even know who Billy Mitchell was?

My own situation is even more dicey, Kach ... as the anchor/chief editor for the TV news, I'm the local paper's direct competitor.  The folks there like me, and all that ... but they aren't chomping at the bit to use anything I might write. 

Jack

[JohnKachenmeister]

I have worked as a PAO for a general-officer command in the Army, and as PAO for a Group in the CAP.  The problems are exactly the same, and the solutions are also the same. 

1.  Newspapers and broadcast outlets are NOT in the business of publishing news.  They are in the business of publishing advertising copy.  The news is just the "Hook" to get people to read/watch/listen to advertising.  They sell all the advertising they can, then the space or time left over is devoted to news.  This is an unalterable fact. 

2.  Since the draft ended in 1972 or 1973, very few persons have entered the military as a percentage of the general population.  That means that very few persons have any idea what the military is, what ranks mean, or what the various service branches do.  I have run into reporters who were surprised and shocked to hear me, as a captain, give orders to a sergeant, since they were under the impression that sergeant was a higher rank than captain.  I'm not kidding.  That means for you, most editors will NOT have the background information to appreciate the importance of an achievement in CAP or in the military.

3.  Professionally-trained PAO's are rare.  Both in CAP and in the military.  In order to get your story used, you must do the work of the reporter and the editor, too.  Most CAP folks simply do not have the experience required to do that.  How many CAP pao's even OWN an AP stylebook, let alone establish the stylebook intimacy necessary to write news copy?

[Smithsonia]

Here's the straight and plain truth. The decision for news is made inside the Budget Meeting. The news budget meeting is to review where crews and resources are assigned, what product (stories) are being generated, when the stories will be ready, and to which edition (newspaper) or which newscast these stories are assigned, the length of each story (hence the word budget for the story must be packaged for a certain sized newspaper or 30 minute newscast)

NO ONE IN THE MILITARY OR CAP PAO has ever been to a budget meeting. Until you are and unless you can get into a budget meeting (in my case as a media editor, reporter, news manager, news consultant, promotions consultant) you won't know how to pitch your story properly.

If you aspire to having your PAO work spread via media... then understand the News Budget Process.

I suggest that every one who is serious about a career in news, public affairs, or public relations get training. Go to your local college, junior, community college and take a course. As a member of this course... become a newsroom intern... as an intern
go to a budget meeting. NO, go to as many budget meetings as they will let you go to. Work the assignment desk too. See how it is done. Simultaneously - Get your writing skills in shape. There is nothing in this world as potent as an editorially honed mind. Then once you've seen it from the inside -- figure out how to attack it from the outside. BUT, never complain about what it is. Unless you own your own personal media outlet -- It is what it is. Many times the media is foolish... but in these cases
the fault is the PAO. Not because you (mis)placed your trust in the media... it is because you did NOT understand the process.

[JohnKachenmeister]

Ed:

You are exactly right.  In order to get published, you need to remember a few things:

1.  CAP is not important enough to rate assignment of a reporter.  They will not send someone out to cover you, no matter how nice you ask.  The reporters are running down stories of bloody car crashes, shootings, stabbings, etc.  "If it bleeds, it leads."

2.  If you ARE important enough to rate a reporter, do not look at this as a good thing.  It means someone in your organization is in really big trouble.  Bad news is more entertaining than good news, and therefore more likely to attract readers who will also notice the advertising copy.

3.  Since you can't get a reporter, YOU have to be the reporter.  Write copy and get good pix.  If your story and your pix are entertaining enough, you may get published. YOUR goal is to get publicity for CAP.  THEIR goal is to create a medium that people read so that they can sell advertisers on the concept of putting ads in their paper and paying good money for them.  (REALLY good money, I might mention.  I put a small ad in a weekly for my business and it cost me almost $400.  For that kind of money, I want to make sure people see it.)

4.  Learning to write good news copy is not hard, but it IS a skill that must be learned.  You cannot make the transition from being a pretty good writer of high school essays to being a journalist without special training.  This is the weak point of CAP.  A lot of unit PAO's try to learn journalism by trial and error.  By the time they are decent, they have burned their credibility bridges with the local media outlets.

5.  If writing news copy really was hard, we would not see as many stupid reporters as we do.

6.  PICTURES!  Pictures need to be entertaining and cool.  NOT grip-and-grins.  Pix are what attract readers to the story, and to the paper so they can read the ad copy.  Use good-looking cadets and officers in action roles.  The absolute worst is the grip and grin with others in the picture:  "Capt. Lance Elbowbend receives a certificate for commanding a unit with the lowest rate of sexually-transmitted diseases at Annual Training '09 while Col. Harry Underarms looks on."   The best is to show cadets or officers DOING something:  "Cadet-of-the-Year Sergeant Eric Fahrtsack explains the gauges of an aircraft instrument panel to Cadet Airman Ernie Thighbone."

[openmind]

Might I add a little spin on this discussion?

As a 39 year old American, a member of Generation X (I prefer to call it Gen x86 myself  ) I cannot tell you the last time I either watched the local TV News, or read a Newspaper.  Literally.  I don't remember, it has been that long.

OK, I probably caught a little coverage after the last Hurricane came through town, but in that instance I was tuning into anything that was still transmitting!

You folks who are wondering about getting TV coverage on the Local News and getting in the local Newspaper, are never going to reach me or my friends.  Much less the younger generation!  (Generations plural now, I do feel old all of a sudden...)

What is the game plan for reaching those folks?  Besides the in-school Cadet recruiting activities, those young people would NEVER hear about CAP from any of the sources you are mentioning.

Of course, this drags us back to the lack of an overall National level PA campaign from NHQ, and that's another discussion.

Back to the topic:  Even if you get the stories into the Local TV News or the local Newspaper, who does that reach?  Once you put all the effort into writing the story and taking the pics for the reporter, shouldn't you use that information somewhere that will reach the entire audience?  Or, at least, in another capacity besides just handing it to the local reporters?

openmind

[Rotorhead]

2.  If you ARE important enough to rate a reporter, do not look at this as a good thing.  It means someone in your organization is in really big trouble.

Glib, but not necessarily true.

[Rotorhead]

As a 39 year old American, a member of Generation X (I prefer to call it Gen x86 myself  ) I cannot tell you the last time I either watched the local TV News, or read a Newspaper.  Literally.  I don't remember, it has been that long.

Where do you get your news?

[Smithsonia]

Open mind;
Not that you don't have a point... but you don't have the fine point. Public information is by any means possible. Twitter, You Tube, Social Networks. VLOGS, BLOGS, etc. etc. etc.

Each can be used to ratchet the story to whatever place you think best. Once again, an editorially honed mind is the important thing. Inside information and intimate knowledge of not just the subject matter but the attending media is important. The object is to get it Public. NOT just publicly distributed but in the public consciousness.

How you do this is part of the art of the practice of Public Affairs.

[RiverAux]

1.  CAP is not important enough to rate assignment of a reporter.  They will not send someone out to cover you, no matter how nice you ask. 

Not entirely true.  You're right that no paper or station is going to send someone out to cover a promotion or even an award.  However, it is entirely possible to get them to come to SAREXs and various special events if pitched right.  Granted, most SAREXs may not rate a reporter -- after all, how many ES agencies do drills every day and they don't expect them to be in the paper.  But, if you work it the right way, you can get SAREX coverage assuming you don't expect it more than about once a year. 

[Smithsonia]

Please pick the headline that is most likely to receive attention:
1. Civil Air Patrol; exercises cadets (SAREX headline)
2. Civil Air Patrol; Looks for Homeland Security Threat (SAREX Headline)
3. Civil Air Patrol; Responds to Homeland Security Threat (SAREX headline)

In this headline I am selling the the same thing. The exact same thing. Which one would the reporter most likely attend?

Consider this a PAO aptitude test. If you can't perceive the difference between the 3 headlines above... you have no (or not enough) aptitude.

[JohnKachenmeister]

2.  If you ARE important enough to rate a reporter, do not look at this as a good thing.  It means someone in your organization is in really big trouble.

Glib, but not necessarily true.

Your are right... not "Necessarily" true.  But "Usually" true!