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M$5.00
Does Anyone Have Any Solid Contacts In Local/National Broadcast? ABC. NBC, KCAL, FOX, etc.....
Answer Yes if you do and send me the answer to jason@tinycomb.com along with your Mahalo name. I will give the $5 to the best emailed answer.
I need to get something on the news...
I need to get something on the news...
voted uninteresting: stephenk
No Best Answer Selected, Tip Refunded
1 answerers thought this was unfair.
1 answerers thought this was unfair.
answers (1)
I don't have any personal contacts with any major news outlets (I didn't work with or for any of the major ones when I was a journalist). HOWEVER: here's what you should do when you have information that you believe is newsworthy:
First, visit the news outlet's Web site. There's usually a link somewhere that lets you share tips. If you're involved in the event that you believe should make the news (i.e. you didn't just hear about it from a friend of a friend), and if the staff actually deem it newsworthy, they'll probably want to schedule an interview.
Another way to contact the journalists is to look through the outlet's Web site for stories that specific journalists have reported. It'll be pretty easy to figure out which of the reporters tends to handle the type of news that you're trying to share, because he or she will tend to cover that kind of story in most cases.
Typically, reporters have individual contact information alongside their published stories, especially on the outlets' Web sites, so you can send e-mails that way. Sometimes, you can even get telephone numbers - but be prepared to have to leave a voice mail, because it's difficult to catch a journalist at his or her desk.
When you first contact the outlet, be sure to share all of the important details. If you have concrete evidence, state that as soon as possible in your message, because journalists receive all sorts of crazy calls and messages every day, and tend to become a bit jaded after hearing or reading that sort of nuttery for a sufficient amount of time. Even small-town newspaper reporters get all sorts of bizarre telephone calls, from all sorts of bizarre people. I had more than a handful of crazy folks calling my office line when I was a news reporter, even when I was only the cub reporter and was, therefore, not assigned to anything significant.
So, really, there's no reason to seek out a "personal" contact, because journalists are already easy to contact. They want people to come to them with tips, evidence, and other such information, because they're incapable of gathering every scrap of possibly-important news by themselves. They monitor the police band (radio)...they make friends with the city secretary...they hand out business cards with their contact information on them wherever they can...that sort of thing.
First, visit the news outlet's Web site. There's usually a link somewhere that lets you share tips. If you're involved in the event that you believe should make the news (i.e. you didn't just hear about it from a friend of a friend), and if the staff actually deem it newsworthy, they'll probably want to schedule an interview.
Another way to contact the journalists is to look through the outlet's Web site for stories that specific journalists have reported. It'll be pretty easy to figure out which of the reporters tends to handle the type of news that you're trying to share, because he or she will tend to cover that kind of story in most cases.
Typically, reporters have individual contact information alongside their published stories, especially on the outlets' Web sites, so you can send e-mails that way. Sometimes, you can even get telephone numbers - but be prepared to have to leave a voice mail, because it's difficult to catch a journalist at his or her desk.
When you first contact the outlet, be sure to share all of the important details. If you have concrete evidence, state that as soon as possible in your message, because journalists receive all sorts of crazy calls and messages every day, and tend to become a bit jaded after hearing or reading that sort of nuttery for a sufficient amount of time. Even small-town newspaper reporters get all sorts of bizarre telephone calls, from all sorts of bizarre people. I had more than a handful of crazy folks calling my office line when I was a news reporter, even when I was only the cub reporter and was, therefore, not assigned to anything significant.
So, really, there's no reason to seek out a "personal" contact, because journalists are already easy to contact. They want people to come to them with tips, evidence, and other such information, because they're incapable of gathering every scrap of possibly-important news by themselves. They monitor the police band (radio)...they make friends with the city secretary...they hand out business cards with their contact information on them wherever they can...that sort of thing.
source(s):
I'm a former journalist
I'm a former journalist
It was unfair to choose no best answer
I gave a detailed answer to this question, and my response was based on my personal experience. One user even gave my answer a "Helpful" rating. This is not fair to me, because I did exactly what Mahaloians are supposed to do.
I gave a detailed answer to this question, and my response was based on my personal experience. One user even gave my answer a "Helpful" rating. This is not fair to me, because I did exactly what Mahaloians are supposed to do.
folkfan, no offense but you gave me a tutorial on how to contact someone in press. I am a journalist myself, my question asked for contacts.
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In that case (you being a journalist), why don't you just take your information to the appropriate editor in your outlet? The editors, as you very well know, have quite a few contacts all over the coverage area (local, state, national, whatever) and usually know what to do - otherwise, they wouldn't be in editorship positions.
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