Queen Mary, University of London Media Guide

Media GuideWorking with the

Communications Officeand Journalists

Pub4739 Media New Concept v6:Layout 1 02/12/2009 13:02 Page 1

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Queen Mary, University of London is always keen to publicise good news stories that showcase theexcellence of its teaching and research.

Media coverage is a quick, effective and powerful way of communicating messages to millions of peopleworldwide. The BBC, for example, attracts a weeklyglobal audience of 238 million people with itsinternational news provision, which includes BBC WorldService, while 30 million people world-wide read The Sunonline each week.

Stories covered in the mass media have the potential toshape public opinion, encourage debate and influencepolicy – perhaps provoking interest from potentialcollaborators and funders.

The College is obligated to tell the public, a majorstakeholder, about the innovative research its scholarsare working on. Indeed, many research grant contractscontain a clause that requires academics to promote their findings.

Working with the media


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Publicity can also facilitate student and staff recruitment.Higher education is a competitive environment andtalented students and academics want to be wherecutting-edge research andteaching is going on, andwhere excellent facilitiesare available.

Whether it is to promoteyour research findings, givean expert opinion, or torepresent the institution asa spokesperson, you may be required to give a mediainterview at some point in your career at Queen Mary.

While not definitive, this guide is designed to give you a basic outline of what to expect when dealing withjournalists and includes tips on how to handle mediainterviews.

Did you know... When a recent MORI poll askedpeople how they heard about developments inbiology: 80 per cent said TV news; 74 per cent said national newspapers and 51 per cent saidlocal papers.


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Universities offer journalists a good source of news andexpert commentators to add weight to a story. Are youabout to publish a research paper with findings that maybe newsworthy? Have you just received a major researchgrant? Are you the voice of authority on a subject that ishitting the headlines?

If so, please notify the Communications Office, so that a member of the team can help you to:

• Identify the key messages

• Write a press release

• Get in touch with journalists

• Coordinate interviews and press conferences

• Provide copies of coverage

Do you have a story to tell?


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How we can helpThe Communications Office, part of Corporate Affairs, isresponsible for media relations; corporate and stakeholdercommunications; and internal communications (with staffand students) on behalf of the College’s three academicsectors: Science and Engineering; Humanities, SocialSciences and Law; and the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Each sector has its own dedicated communications lead,who puts journalists in touch with relevant spokespeopleand liaises with academics and funders to write and pitchpress releases on:

• Research grant awards

• Publication of research papers and findings

• New projects and collaborations

• Distinguished Visitors

• Awards and prizes

• Appointments, promotions and Fellowships

• Inaugural lectures and big name speakers

• Guest speaking at other institutions and conferences

• Forthcoming events

Contact details for the individual communications leadfor your sector are available at: www.qmul.ac.uk/media

To contact the Communications Office:E [email protected] 020 7882 3004

Forensic research at Queen Mary


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All good news stories contain one or more of the followingelements:

• Human interest (will have an impact on the average person, good or bad, now or in future)

• Entertains or amuses (a cute animal is always a winner)

• Extremes (the tallest; the fattest; the smallest; the fastest)

• The ‘wow’ factor (unusual facts and figures)

• First or new

• Controversy or scandal

• VIPs and celebrities

• Money – substantial amounts of funding

• Events or anniversaries

• Exciting images or video footage

What makes a great news story?


Who are our key media outlets?

Local papersEast London Advertiser; East End Life; Tower Hamlets Recorder and London EveningStandard, etc. Bar the Evening Standard, these are weekly papers so have longer deadlines to work with. Stories they want reflect, celebrate, impact on or have meaning for localcommunities. Good examples would be clinical trials involving local people or newfacilities with public access.

National print mediaDaily Telegraph; The Times; The Sun; Daily Mirror; the Guardian, etc. Dailies work to very tight deadlines. Journalists have to battle for page space, so your story has to impress. You must be available for comment at very short notice (i.e. within 15-30 mins).

BroadcastBBC; ITN; SKY; CNN, etc.News is now a 24/7 industry. Broadcast journalists can be the most demanding due totime constraints; they often have to turn a story round in half an hour or less. For yourstory to work on television, you need to provide a visually interesting location for cameracrews to film or to interview you in.

Online newsReuters.com; yahoo.co.uk; guardian.co.uk; bbc.co.uk, etc.This is a huge and growing platform; it is also currently free to view, and the articles are usually published instantly, so it can reach global audiences very quickly. You can display images, video and other multimedia content.

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Alastair Campbell speaks at the College


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Journalists are often keen for academics to give theirviews on issues in the news, for example, the globalfinancial crisis, a pandemic, or Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war.

What are your areas of expertise, and how could they fit into the current news agenda?

Offer to be an expert on your given topic if a journalistneeds a quote about a specific area. Be brave – if youhave strong feelings about a news story or newdevelopment, journalists are always interested in another viewpoint.

Give an expert opinion


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Getting your message acrossTiming is everything when it comes to securing mediacoverage, so alert the Communications Office to apotential news story assoon as possible.

Ideally, a minimum of aweek is needed to preparea press release for printand broadcast newsoutlets, although they canbe turned around fasterwith your help.

To set up magazine features, we require two or threemonths notice as such publications have long lead timesand their editorial content is decided well in advance.

What is a press release? A press release is adocument that highlights important news about an individual or organisation.

A communications officer will write and issue apress release to journalists to encourage them to cover the subject.


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A press release should read like a newspaper story, withthe most crucial information at the top. If the story isaimed at the national media it will be written to appeal to a lay audience, more so than if it was intended for aspecialist publication.

Do not confuse simplifying language with dumbing down;we can still communicate complexity without technicalterms. It is all about making your work accessible. A goodpress release should pre-empt and answer all thequestions a journalist might put to you.

Key elements of a press release


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In the first few sentences, we need to cover the five W’s:

Who you are, who do you work for?

What have you been working on and what effect will thishave on people’s lives?

Where did you do it, where does it happen and where is it published?

When did you do it, when does it take place?

Why is what you have done important, why were you chosen?


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1) EmbargoAn embargo is a point in time after which a story may appear in the media. This is more important for stories on scientific papers, where the embargo will be set by the publishing journal. The vast majority of journalists stick to embargoes, you can speak to them ahead of time so they can pre-prepare material. There are exceptions to this rule - the Sunday newspapers have broken embargoes in the past. Do not speakto journalists on such publications unless you receive approval from your journal or thecommunications team.

2) HeadlineThis sums up the story in a line; it should be short, punchy and engaging.

3) First paragraphWe aim to get all the main facts into the opening paragraph. Subsequent paragraphs are used to elaborate. Journalists are increasingly pressed for time and spend only a few seconds reading a press release – if the story does not hit the mark immediately it is likely to get binned.

4) The contextJournalists love digestible facts and figures to back up a story, so the more anecdotesand statistics you can give us to put things in context the better. Ever-increasing demand for online news means it is also crucial to accompany press releases withstriking photographs, videos and sound clips, to increase the chances of the story being covered.

How should a press releasebe structured?


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5) QuotesQuotes need to be concise, colourful and tell part of the story. Journalists and the laypublic like plain English, so keep it jargon-free. A communications officer can draft aquote on your behalf, based on comments that you have made to them when on thephone or via email.

6) Contact detailsUsually the contact details added are those of a communications officer, not theacademic. This helps to protect you from a deluge of calls. If there is a huge mediaresponse to the release, the communications officer can prioritise interview requests on your behalf.

7) Notes to editorsAt the bottom of a press release, there will further details on the story, plus links to online information, if available. Here, a ‘boilerplate’ – a paragraph about theorganisations involved such as funders, and other universities – will be added.


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News is not an exact science; it is impossible to predictthe level of interest from journalists. A story that might benewsworthy one day might not get a mention the next. Itall depends on national and international events.

The best thing to do is contact the CommunicationsOffice for advice on whether it is likely to generateinterest. And remember, even if a press release is notissued, the Communications Office has plenty of scope to publicise stories in other ways.

If a press release is issued, journalists may wish to speakto you for further comments. With this in mind, pleasemake yourself contactable and available for mediainterviews. Remember, we are talking 15 minutedeadlines, not two days.

Don’t be discouraged if you are not contacted straightaway. If a journalist is short on time, he or she may writethe story just using information gleaned from the pressrelease; others will keep the story for use at a later date.

Even if your story does not make it into print, manynewspapers have a web presence and, without spaceconstraints, can often publish longer versions of storiesonline.

Is media coverage guaranteed?


Tips for speaking to the mediaSee every media interview not as a challenge but an opportunity to get your messageacross. No interview will be the same, and print, radio and TV interviews differsignificantly. However, there are a few pointers to consider when doing any interview.

Radio interviews will either be live or pre-recorded. They may be conducted over thephone or in a studio. If it is the latter, the station will usually arrange transport for you.

You may also receive calls from TV news rooms. Again interviews will be either pre-recorded or live. Filming can be time-consuming, but TV news can reach largeaudiences and so it is often worthwhile doing.

Whether it’s a radio or TV interview, key messages are the crucial elements to your storythat you want your audience to know. The general rule of thumb is three key points; it isusually all the time you will have to convey in an interview situation. Getting your killerfacts in quickly and concisely means there is less chance of them being edited onto thecutting room floor.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by media requests, contact the Communications Officefor advice on which journalists to prioritise. A communications officer can also politelydecline requests on your behalf.

Contact the Communications Office on:E [email protected] 020 7882 3004www.qmul.ac.uk/media

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• If a journalist calls you and you would like to gather yourthoughts, ask if you can call them back in 10 minutes.

• Journalists often work to tight deadlines. If they ask you toreturn their call, please do so as soon as possible, ideally within 30 minutes.

• Find out who they are, who they work for, what they want, what their deadline is and who else they are speaking to.

• Please ask the journalist or presenter to give ‘Queen Mary, University of London’ a name check (mention).

General interview guidelines


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Preparing for your interview

• Are you the right person to do the interview? Is someone else better qualified to speak?

• Anticipate what questions you might get asked – remember the five W’s

• Write down three key points that you wish to get across. They need to be punchy sound bites. Can you tell them in the time it would take to go up three floors in a lift?

• Write down your key points on a postcard to prompt you – not reams of paper, as you can’t read off a script.

• Think about what is most important. Only one of your quotes might get used in a newspaper or 20 seconds on air – what do you want to get across?

• Think about who you are talking to? Who is the audience? What would they want you to say, or explain, or be reassured about?

• Before doing the interview, establish how much the interviewer knows about the subject. Do you need to brief them first?

• Ask the Communications Office to run through a mock interview if you think it will be helpful.


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If you feel that a journalist is pushing you into sayingsomething you are uncomfortable with, employ the ABCrule. It will enable you to Acknowledge the question, Bridgethe gap between what is being asked and what you wantto say, then Communicate your message.

There are some really useful bridging phrases that youcan use to make it appear you are acknowledging thequestion but then continue with your own agenda andmessages.

The ABC rule

For example:

“You say that, but that’s not quite right, what we feel is……”

“I don’t know about that, but what I do know is…..”

“That is an interesting point but what I want to say is………”

“We don’t think that’s the case, we think……”


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Speaking to print journalists

• Give quotable sound bites. How would you explain this researchto a friend in the pub who has no knowledge of the subject?

• Try to use comparisons and metaphors to illustrate complexpoints.

• Be aware of throwaway comments: everything you say could bequoted in print.

• Be careful of questions that start: “So what you are saying is A,B, C.” If you answer “yes”, the journalist could quote you asdirectly saying “A, B, C”. Answer in your own words.

• As a general rule, there is no such thing as “off the record”.

• Never say “no comment” as it sounds like you have something to hide – say “I’m not the best person to ask, you should try X”.


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Preparation

• What is the programme and what is the audience?

• What is the interview about and what areas will be covered?

• Is it live or pre-recorded?

• How long will the interview last?

• Is anyone else being interviewed, and if so who? Will you be discussing the issue with them?

• Where will the interview take place? Can they arrange transport?

• Ask your interviewer what their first question is going to be.

• In a live interview get your key points out as early as possible,just in case it has to be cut short.

• Make sure your phone is turned off (not just on silent) for theduration of the interview.

• Be careful of statistics when you are discussing risk (see ‘Communicating Risk in a Sound Bite’ atwww.sciencemediacentre.org for tips).

Broadcast interviews


When being interviewed

• Be positive, calm and relaxed.

• Sound passionate and enthusiastic about your subject.

• Pace yourself.

• Accept a glass of water, if it is offered – it helps a nervous, dry mouth.

• Avoid “ums” and “ahs”.

• When you have finished your point stop speaking. The journalistmay pause to encourage you to give further information, but thiscould lead to you saying more than you want or need to.

• Think about your audience and tailor your language accordingly.

• Look at the interviewer – pay no attention to the camera.

• Don’t get defensive – if you get angry you look guilty and couldfind yourself part of the story.

• Make sure you look presentable.

• Don’t wear anything distracting, e.g stripes, checks, comedy tie or dangly earrings.

• Avoid distracting mannerisms like waving your hands around.Place them on your thighs or in your lap.

• Be patient as there are lots of different shots a TV crew will need to film to fill a few minutes of air time. Retakes may benecessary if the noise of a passing car or other backgrounddisturbances distort sound quality.

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• Respond to journalists enquiries or requests punctually.

• Always make sure Queen Mary gets a mention.

• If you are working on something you think couldbe newsworthy, contact the CommunicationsOffice to discuss publicity options.

Key points


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Here to help

If you would like to improve your experience of dealingwith the media or want to gain practical interview skills,think about signing up to one of the training courses runin-house by the Communications Office.

For further details, contact the Communications Office:E [email protected] 020 7882 3004www.qmul.ac.uk/media


This guide has been produced by the Publications and Web Office for the Communications Office - Pub4739

For further information contact:Communications Office Queen Mary, University of LondonMile End RoadLondon E1 4NSTel: +44 (0)20 7882 3004Tel: +44 (0) 7970 096 175 (out of hours)email: [email protected]/media


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Queen Mary, University of London Media Guide