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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

Many news operations are also putting “submit a story” sections on their websites. Truthfully, I do not personally know of one good media hit that has ever come out of things submitted in this manner. It is far better to develop a relationship and send it to a specific reporter you know. Post your own news websites “Citizen Journalism” is one of the new terms being used to describe the websites where you post your own stories on the site. To be effective, you need to write well and have the “why this is important to you as reader” right up there in the first line. For example, on a screen filled with headlines from all sorts of competing entries, would a non-ham be more likely to look at “Most residents at risk in coming storms” or “Hams to aid local communications in disaster.” Another need, and danger, in these do-it-yourself news blogs is accuracy. While you have much more control over the initial content, you also have to be sure what you write is correct. If it is not, there will be many people who will happily tell you about it in the comments sections under your entry. Broadcast TV You only get one chance to make a first impression, and on broadcast TV that chance happens in 15 seconds or less. TV needs good pictures, things moving, people doing something. They also need a great sound byte. Take a look at your local TV news, but this time with a clock close by. Count the number of seconds that someone actually gets to talk or present in a story. It’s amazingly short, so be prepared and have a 10 second summary quote memorized and ready to use. Radio stations We’ll talk about radio interviews later, but supplementing a story with a good quality audio tape as possible background sound or providing one of the ARRL mp3 audio PSAs (available for download at http://www.arrl.org/pio ) as a “lead in” is appreciated.