RSSAvoid over-emphasizing God and faith elements when pitching stories to secular news media. So said the deputy editor of Singapore´s leading English daily on the sidelines of a Church-run media awareness workshop.
“This is not about hiding or concealing your (religion). Rather, it is about publicizing your work and getting the media to cover you,” said Alan John from “The Straits Times.”
John, a Catholic, was speaking to UCA News during the May 28 “How to Engage the Media with Effectiveness” workshop organized by the Caritas Singapore Community Council (CSCC). The organization heads the Singapore Catholic Church´s social outreach program.
John, one of the keynote speakers at the workshop, said “established mission schools and community social agencies run by religious groups have no trouble describing the work they do, their mission, and who they help and why, and getting good coverage.”
He advised 30 representatives of Catholic organizations at the workshop to have a media strategy, such as a spokesperson for the organization, and decide how often they want to be in the media and work toward it.
John, who has 33 years´ experience in journalism, suggested organizations find out the names and email addresses of reporters through their bylines in the newspapers, write to them to introduce themselves, and stay in touch.
“Put a face to the organization,” he said.
John also explained why some stories get better play than others, and tried to show participants how to angle their stories in a way that interests journalists. He noted that that what some organizations consider news, journalists may not.
He encouraged Catholic organizations to establish themselves as “go-to organizations” for journalists to approach when relevant issues regarding specific areas of expertise arise, so that the organizations are mentioned more often in newspapers.
He also said it is not realistic to expect newspapers to report only good news, and taught participants briefly what to do should the media come knocking when things go wrong.
Catholic organizations including Morning Star Community Services (MSCS) and the Catholic Business Network (CBN) attended the event.
George Lim, 53, CSCC deputy chairman, told UCA News the workshop aimed to encourage Catholic organizations to use the media to inform the public about their work, and gain support for what they do. “The message we hope the speakers would bring across to the organizations is the need to communicate in a way which is appealing and engaging.”
Daniel Tay, 29, a journalist from “The Catholic News,” the archdiocesan fortnightly newspaper, said organizations should know the paper´s deadlines, and allow staff enough time to work on telling a good story.
Due to space constraints, “The Catholic News” was more likely to publish shorter articles, and sometimes a good photograph was enough to tell a story.
It is important for representatives to build personal relationships with “Catholic News” journalists, so that it is easier for Tay and his colleagues to know more about the organizations. He said, “Face-to-face communication works better than over the telephone.”
Participants also learned that their organizations need to constantly find fresh, interesting and unusual ways to maintain coverage in “The Catholic News.”
Daniel and Shelley Ee, who attended the workshop, said it had given them food for thought. The couple runs Marriage Encounter Singapore, which aims at improving people´s marital lives.
They have been trying unsuccessfully to get coverage for their organization in “The Straits Times” as journalists are reluctant to put “religious themes” in articles.
The couple said that after attending the workshop, they are now aware that inspiring stories and stories that impact society have higher chances of being published. “We´re still thinking of a way to provide an inspiring story, an angle for the media to feature our program and the good impact it has had on participants´ lives,” they said.
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