PR and TV

These suggestions were from John McAteer, a news producer for KSAT-TV in San Antonio at the time these comments were made.

Format essentials:

  • Source with name, address and phone number
  • Contact person's name, address and phone number at work and at home
  • Double or triple space information
  • Use white or cream paper
  • Use company or agency letterhead and include a business card cut for Rolodex.

    • Public relations counselors must understand the medium to get television coverage of special events, John McAteer said.

    "About 75 percent of stories die at the assignments desk," McAteer said. "TV news is different from newspapers and different from radio."

    McAteer suggests these questions must be answered before trying to get television news or feature coverage:

  • Are there logistical limitations?
  • How many news units are working?
  • How many crews?
  • Are there other set stories?
  • Can the station get a camera there?
  • Is the event newsworthy enough for live coverage (such as Night in Old San Antonio or the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo)?
  • Does the story have visual appeal? "Movement and motion make things come to life."
  • When is a good time versus a bad time for a story? "Sundays and Mondays are the slowest days of the news week," McAteer said. "Before 10 a.m. is the best time of the day," he added, suggesting public relations counselors should know the assignments editors and know what the station offers. Between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. is a bad time, he said.
    The assignments desk is "the stress central of the world," McAteer said. "It will really get to you." PR stories compete with police and fire scanners, three wires and reporters calling back for instructions, McAteer said.

    McAteer, who worked on the campus newspaper at Missouri, said many PR counselors do not know how to construct a release. "You've got to have a good lead sentence," he said. "If you can't give the jist of the story in 30 seconds, forget it. "Secondly, let them (television assignments editors) know when and where. Then, why it would be good visually."

    McAteer said the contact person should be named in the release. "Let us know who to contact at the event," he said. Use handwritten P.S. if appropriate, he said, to show a personal touch. "The first paragraph will make or break your release," McAteer said. "Know how to develop a news angle."

    McAteer's suggestions apply to media releases written in newspaper format.

    A trend among top public relations agencies is to use "who, what, when, where and why" information in a list. Along with this basic information, some counselors suggest including at the top of the page a brief, catchy and well-written synopsis of what will happen

    In addition, a release to television would have specific visual appeal noted at the top of the release, such as "10,000 balloons will be released from a giant cascarone."

    Be sure all information is accurate and free from typographical errors, McAteer said, adding that first impressions are important in evaluating media releases. "You would be amazed at some of the trashy releases we get every day," he said, noting the bad releases wind up in the trash.

    McAteer, a journalism graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia, also has worked in radio.

    Click here for Public Relations Society of America. The site provides career information, job openings and references to other public relations information.


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    © Chester F. "Chet" Hunt and San Antonio College 2001.
    San Antonio College is a college of the Alamo Community College District.