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How to get press coverage for shooting?
Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 1:58 pm
by Ivy
It's no good, I just can't seem to get coverage for shooting in even local papers. It was difficult enough getting an article in my university campus paper about the university team winning stuff. I don't know if it's because my writing isn't interesting enough, or because shooting isn't interesting enough. (Or because I'm in the UK and shooting just isn't politically correct.)
Please, if anyone has any tips, any ways to make either my writing (or my e-mails to proper journalists) more interesting, or to make shooting seem more interesting, I would be absolutely delighted and hugely grateful to hear them.
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:44 am
by RobStubbs
Why don't you invite them over to the club, show them some shooting or better still let them have a try and then talk about results etc.
Rob.
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:25 am
by Sparks
A reporter over here put this together for sports in general and it proved useful (I've just removed the local phone numbers and stuff)
NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS: What they need from sports organisations
NOTICE: Give sufficient notice to the media of an upcoming event. Ten days to a week is about right. Check material before sending to see that it has:
(a) the right day, date, time, contact phone number for the event ;
(b) the proper name correctly spelled and the right address.
PRESENTATION: Material should be typed, double spaced and on one side of the paper only. Allow at least a three inch white space at the top of the first page. Try if possible to get everything on one page, with your main point in the first paragraph. Don't break paragraphs at the end of a page.
STYLE: Check for the house style of the paper you're targeting. For instance, if you're submitting "Division 1" and their style is "Div 1", alter your style to save sub-editor time; another instance would be "U18 " for "Under 18s".
E-MAIL: Send e-mails unformatted, ie, plainly typed (like this...), not in caps or in tables, so the sub-editor doesn't have to re-do it. Cut and paste is preferable to attachments.
DELIVERY: It is always a good idea to make personal contact with the sports editor. Ring to introduce yourself and to ask whether they would accept regular material and what format they would prefer. Few national newspapers now accept faxed or written results at the weekend - they are simply too busy. These MUST be phoned in to sports copy if modem or e-mail transmission isn't possible. Some newspapers have free-phone lines for this purpose. As a courtesy, ask permission before you use any of these facilities.
PERSONNEL: Make sure you spell names of contacts correctly (is it Mac or Mc, Byrne or Beirne, Smith or Smyth; journalists with unusual names will note and appreciate if you get it right !). Ensure that the media is informed about any relevant changes in your organisation - new appointments or changes of telephone numbers.
PHOTOGRAPHS: These can now be accepted digitally using ISDN. Check with the sports department and then the picture desk. Sports departments now accept far more submitted photographs, even in colour, than in the past.
NEWS ITEMS: Some aspects of your sport may be more suitable for the news desk than for sport - for instance, a "colour" piece on trail-O with a nice photo. Read newspapers carefully to see where such openings may lie - and if you have a story or idea, contact the news desk directly.
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 5:56 pm
by Guest
Ivy, if you hadn't said you were in the UK, I'd have sworn you were in the US. I shoot FITA archery, and we can't beg, borrow or steal any type of press coverage over here. It its not baseball, basketball, football (US rules) or NASCAR, you won't see it in the newspapers or on TV.
We just had the US Junior Olympic Archery Championships in Ohio this weekend. They were in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the local paper had ZERO coverage.
Sparks, thank you for the very good ideas on how to submit articles to newspapers. Even though I'm in the US, I'm sure the same "rules" will apply.
Ps. I'd like to get into 10M 3 position rifle shooting, but there are no clubs, ranges, etc. in the Cleveland, Ohio area that I know of. I can shoot in my basement, but I'd like comradery and competition, too.
Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 6:12 pm
by ColinC
As a newspaper editor and pistol shooter I can see both sides of the story. You basically have to provide "news".
Start off by providing articles which tell of the junior shooter who has shot 500 after only x number of shoots, the club record score, perhaps a feature on the family shooting together, etc etc.
These type of stories are news whereas weekly scores tend not to be too interesting to the general public. Not understanding the matches, it is just a bunch of numbers with probably the same names topping the list each week.
Another good news story to provide is a few paragraphs about a member who has won a trophy at an open shoot somewhere else.
I guess the answer is to start with the news and gradually you might be able to get weekly results published. I would recommend staying away from the political side of shooting because you will always come out on the losing side as there are too many vocal anti-gun people out there who will shout you down and fill newspaper columns with their letters.
Good luck. Oh yes, the reply to the obvious question - yes all shooting got a good run at the local newspaper which I edited for almost 20 years. I now work in religious media and there is not much opportunity to publicise the sport.
Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 12:29 pm
by Ivy
Sparks, thank you very much for that. Most helpful.
Colin, you say "Start off by providing articles..." but that's sort-of what I've been doing. Are there any "buzzwords" or key phrases or anything that might help make it more interesting and worthy of newspaper space? I rather suspect that it's all in the wording.
(No I've never gone political with shooting - can of worms and all that.)
Thanks,
Ivy.
Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:01 pm
by ColinC
One of first things I would do is contact the sports editor and ask how he/she would like news items presented. Some papers here prefer you to upload stories and photos through their website and will not accept email attachments because of danger of viruses getting into their system. Others are happy to receive emails and even hard copy (paper) items.
Treat every story as big news. Cover the main points first and then tag the results on.
The first couple of sentences should cover the basics:
WHO - Fred Nerk (Sorry Fred is you really exist)
WHAT - Shot a personal best in air pistol
WHERE - ABC Pistol Club
WHEN - On Monday night. (Don't send items in too late. Try to do it next day so it appears to be more newsworthy)
WHY - (Don't have to worry about this one really - it's obvious "Because he shot a better score than he has ever done before!"
Follow up these intros with details of his new PB, which is x points better than his old one shot two years ago, and some basic details on Fred such as that he has been shooting for X years and is a C grade shooter.
Then follow with some details such as "At Monday night's 10m air pistol competition Barry Smith recorded the best score with 564 out of 600 (helps readers understand the sport better) which included a remarkable 32 bullseyes."
Full results: A grade: Barry Smith 564, Joe Brown 557, Alby Black 556; B grade: etc etc; C grade: etc
Handicap winners: A grade: Joe Brown 557-23-590; B grade: etc
That's the end of the story - don't do a plug for the club about when it shoots etc each time as paper will cut it out as boring/repetitive. Instead slip it in from time to time, especially after the paper is used to receiving items from you.
However, put a contact daytime phone number & email address for the sports editor should he/she need to contact you with a query. If you are lucky it might be a call to see if you can arrange a photo of Fred.
Hope this all helps - If you ever need any publicity advice feel free to ask. In a previous life, I used to run full day courses on getting news items in your local papers.
Oh yes, the above information is for local newspapers. Obviously a major daily would laugh at you if you tried to run a story about someone's PB score. However, there are still opportunities.
Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:53 pm
by Guest
it happens i guess. i have seen newspapers list 6xx.x scores as preliminary result for airgun events. i emailed them but they didnt correct this the next day or any other day for the matter. somehow i feel that they cant be bothered.
Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:17 pm
by ColinC
That's right. Unless its a libel, paper's won't public apologies. As for correcting a mistake in a score in a sports result - it won't happen. We have to accept that, and send in the next report without complaining.
Complaints only get people offside, especially if it was an innocent mistake on their behalf. Perhaps the best we can do is to add a footnote along the lines of "Dear Editor/ Sports Journalist Thanks so much for publishing our scores. Please take special care with results this week. Last week's scores had a typing error."
It might sound a bit over the top, but as an editor used to getting a pile of complaints, the thank you might be a ray of sunshine that day. When it comes to deciding which result to publish (newspapers always have more than they can publish) the pistol shooting might just get the nod. The editors are like referees in football, (pick your code) basketball etc. Get on the right side of them and the 50-50 decisions start going your way.
Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:54 am
by BadMOJO
Here's an interesting story. I was recently in Columbus, GA. to shoot the USA Shooting Nationals. I returned to my hotel one afternoon to find an ESPN film crew setup to interview the guy who starred in the movie "Rudy". When I questioned them, ESPN was not even aware that the USAS Nationals were in town. Does USAS issue press releases for national competitions? If not, why?
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:54 pm
by Hill
Get your hands on an Associated Press Style Guide.
Or, go to a used bookstore near a college campus and get a Basic News Writing textbook.
I used to work as a sports writer.
Sports writers are very busy. If we get it, and it's not packaged so we can immediately use it, lots of time, we're just not interested.
Let me tell you. Writing sports stories or press releases ain't brian science....and it ain't rocket surgery, either.
Do not be intimidated by it. Anyone can learn how to do it.
Learn about the following:
1)Inverted Pyramid Lead......the first sentence which tells Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
2) How to do quotes.
Also, write your own press releases and release them. Make an email list of all media outlets near you and bomb their in-boxes with them.
And be positive and persistent. No matter how little response you get, keep sending the press releases to all the media outlets in your area.
Hit them and hit them and hit them.
Roy Hill
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:20 am
by sparky
The world as a whole isn't that interested in shooting as a sport. I would suggest not writing stories about the matches themselves, but rather, try to find a human interest angle. See if you can find a particular shooter who has an interesting background that you can write about and use to incorporate the shooting angle...a good underdog story is usually good, especially if it involves a kid or a woman since they run counter to the stereotypes most folks have about shooting recreationally.
Shooting in the news
Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 7:49 am
by PASA008
One thing that worked for us over the years was change of tactics. Contact your local tourasim office. Usually in with your convention center or city council. If you are having any outside competitors coming into the area to shoot. What is the impact on the local economy, eating at restaurants, staying in motels, shopping at the stores, etc. Human interest stories, especially if youth are involved.
If it is a big enough event try contacting ShootingUSA.com. Jim Scouten travels to numerous events and video's them for later broadcast. ESPN did one time come to our range to film the Masters International Shooting Championship when it was a much bigger event. They do come to the USPSA championships, but that is action shooting which is a little more "viewable" than International precision shooting.
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:57 pm
by BadMOJO
That's interesting considering the fact that the ISSF has once again refused to recognize Practical Shooting as an actual sport. Reference the 2/2006 issue of ISSF magazine.
Thank you for your feedback. Perhaps someone from USAS read it. We may not have the luxury of being involved in a very exciting sport but the apathy of our parent organizations certainly does little to generate outside interest.