Read the paper daily and look to see which reporter writes about history related subjects frequently

History and the Media

By Don Rittner,

Schenectady County Historian

You’re a historian and want to get your story in the paper? Here are the top tips on how to get your name in the paper!

1. Read the paper daily to determine which reporter writes about history related subjects frequently. Make a contact with that person. If you’re trying to save a historic building from demolition, calling the business editor is likely to get no sympathy.

2. Make your story relevant to what is happening today in the world or your community. Does your story have irony? Does your event or issue match exactly the same as one 100 years ago? Is it timely? Is it an anniversary of an event or person? Is it a holiday feature, such as a Christmas or Easter event that happened 100 years ago in your town?

3. Know what day of the week is the proverbial “slow news” day.

4. Is your story a filler, real news, event announcement, or feature? Announcements are usually covered not by the news department, but the community events or arts & entertainment department. Often they require a submission two weeks in advance. Know this. “Fillers” can be published anytime when the reporter has a “no news” day, or amnesia. Features need time and research so have your images and information printed and ready to leave with the reporter.

5. Know the difference between dailies and weeklies. Often in the weeklies, one reporter is responsible for finding, writing, editing, and even laying out the story. Try to give the weeklies your stories that are not time-sensitive, or give plenty of lead-time.

6. Prepare a cheat sheet for your story. Have your name and names and titles of all principals in the story correctly spelled and printed IN ALL CAPS. Have your main points of what you are trying to convey in the story in bullet form. Be sure to have your phone number and email address in case the reporter needs to follow up quickly with a phone call or email to get a clarification. Be sure to give your affiliation as local municipal historian (village, town, city, county, etc.) and if you have a Web site give the URL (address).

7. Have a single message to your story. If you are trying to put together a history trail, organize a bicentennial committee, and trying to save a historic building, don’t try to put it all in the same story. Anecdotes or side stories are ok as long as they fit with the main story.

8. Photo Op. Try to have your photo taken at the site of your story. If you are interviewing at the paper’s office, bring photos, preferable high quality .JPG or TIFF files on CD with proper descriptions and credits. If you give hardcopy photos, be sure to have the same information printed on the back of the photo. If you want them back, leave them in a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

9. Is there really a purpose for the story, other than getting your MUG or name in the paper? Is it controversial (tearing down a building), newsworthy (you received a large grant to do x, y, z), or educational (learn how to protect artifacts)? Does your story belong in the local section, arts section, opinion page, or lifestyles? There are different writers and editors for each, so be sure you know whom you are pitching the story to or you will get rejected.

10. If you have a reporter’s email address, try pitching your story first through email. They will answer you when they can - maybe. Getting a phone call while they’re in the middle of a deadline (for those that don’t have call forwarding) can get you a real quick no thanks in a hurry. In your email, ask when is a good time to call. If you don’t get an email reply, go ahead and call.

11. Try to have a few really good punchy quotes to use. Just reciting the facts can be boring – for the writer and reader. If it is the biggest, first, oldest, or the rarest, don’t be afraid to say it. Be sure they are your quotes and not someone else’s (or give due credit).

12. If your article ends up chopped up, contains wrong facts, missing pieces, and overall flows like a lump of frozen nitrogen, do not call the reporter and scream at him or her. There are little gremlins called editors lurking in the corners of the paper that often enjoy seeing how far they can go in making you look stupid, and taking out their migraine on the lowly writer of your piece.

13. If you are doing all this on TV, all of the above still works. Bottom line is to look good, talk slowly, keep um’s to a minimum, and talk to the reporter. In other words, look at the reporter and forget there is a camera on you that will make your head look like the size of a watermelon, and every twitch you have magnified by 20 times. You will be on for such a short time, no one will notice. TV is sound bites with moving visuals. Try to make your point in 9 seconds. If you make a mistake, keep talking. TV stations have editors too!

14. Don’t tell the reporter what to write or to ask to see it before it is printed.