Writing For The Media Course Outline

Introduction: Mastering Media Manoeuvres

-          What do you want out of media relations?
-          What’s in it for them?
-          Writing for the media vs other stakeholder writing
-          What a media release is and what it is NOT
-          News vs current affairs vs other sections of media - similarities and differences


Know the basics or be binned! - The tools of writing

-          School re-visited (or not!)
-          Basic elements of grammar and punctuation (relevant for media writing)
-          The 10 most common and worst mistakes that make you look stupid

Interactive Exercises: Grammar and punctuation                      

Newshounds Anonymous - Writing for news

-          The composition of a news story – print, radio, TV, online
-          Finding your nose for news – picking the angles
-          Audience analysis – yours and the media’s
-          Matching your audience with the right media, angle etc…
-          Content – your material vs the news angle – supporting reference material,
           pictorial, data etc… To use or not to use? The right way to use it
-          Contacting the media - when, who and how?
-          The 10-15 second/30-45 word rule – scripting for your voice message


Interactive Exercises - Media liaison

1.         How to sell your story to a journalist’s voice message
2.         How to sell your story to a journalist on the other end

The Moment of Truth- Writing a media release                       

-          Format of a media release
-          Structure of a media release – the inverted pyramid
-          Style and language