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● Introduction & Index ● What is PR ● Job Expectations ● Types of Media ● Building Relationships ● Media, Hams & FCC Rules ● The Basic News Release ● Interviews and Live ● Making your own show ● Easy P.R. ● Public Service Events ● Piggy-back to Events ● Pictures NOW! ● P.R. Research Aids ● Making Friends ● ARES® PIO ● Final Exam Information Next Page

The public service provided by hams during emergencies is important. The fact that we communicate via radio waves in the age of the internet is unusual (use this to our advantage). One other type of story that often makes the news — even if it isn’t especially important or unusual — is the interesting story, what journalists call a human interest story. Most of the time, ham radio activities in and of themselves aren’t news, especially beyond a local area. However, you can get ham radio into the news by showing how hams are involved in a local or national news story, or by looking for a human interest “angle.” We’ll cover these in more detail in later chapters. If a ham contacts the International Space Station, that’s news in that ham’s home town. If a current or former astronaut comes to your town and talks with the space station, that’s statewide news and good material for some of the TV news magazine shows. If there’s a breakdown in NASA’s communications system and ham radio is the only contact the crew members have with earth (which once happened) — and a ham in your town is at the center of it — you’re on the evening news and in newspapers across the country. OK, now let’s “meet the media.” Remember the fish-feeding analogy. There is no huge beast called “the news media.” In fact, the word “media” is actually a plural noun, and you should say/write “the media are” rather than “the media is…” There are several categories and even sub-categories within the news media. Let’s start with… Newspapers The bottom of the food chain in the newspaper category is the local weekly, followed by regional daily newspapers (Hartford Courant, Baltimore Sun), specialized national newspapers (Education Week, Baseball Weekly), national daily newspapers (NY Times, Washington Post, USA Today), and while not newspapers themselves, the wire services (Associated Press, Reuters and United Press International). Wire service stories are sent to newspapers and broadcast stations across an entire state or nationwide. Magazines & Newsletters This category includes local neighborhood newsletters, company newsletters, regional magazines (New Jersey Monthly), specialized national magazines (Road & Track, QST, CQ), and general national magazines (Time, Newsweek, Women’s Day, McCall’s).