In followup to the previous blog post, What Makes News, I promised to unveil ten news values that are typically found in traditional media stories. From an executive standpoint on trying to get a law enforcement story covered, the more elements present in a story can translate to increasing probability of getting the news media to pick it up. While there are many varying opinions on news value elements, depending on who you ask, I chose these ten based upon the very nature of our business – public safety.
- Impact
- Regionalization
- Timeliness
- Prominence
- Conflict
- Controversy
- Human Interest
- Doom and Gloom
- Feel-Good Stories of Compassion
- Novelty or Oddity
Impact deals with how a story, incident, situation, or crisis is affecting the community. The greater impact, such as severe weather, the greater news coverage that will occur.
Regionalized stories are those topics that affect a greater population than just your community. Finding regional aspects in a story pitch will increase chances of getting a nod from reporters to move forward.
Timeliness matters in stories. It’s about currency and relevancy. Wait too long and you might miss an opportunity to get the story highlighted. Release something within a crowded news cycle or when breaking news is front and center, your story pitch will be overlooked.
Prominence deals with how much attention is being garnered on the topic or situation. This is why many viral posts about controversial incidents involving police lead to news inquiries. The media sees the prominence of shares and comments, which my tip the scale into generating coverage.
Elements of conflict are routinely found in newscasts. Conflict could be fatality crashes, homicide investigations, and other incidents that generate citizen interest.
Controversy is also found in many stories. This is where objectivity and presenting both sides of an issue is paramount for reporters. By presenting the information, the public is in the driver’s seat on making assessments about the veracity of the story.
Human interest stories are those topic areas that appeal to our innate human nature that society likes to see and hear about. Humanizing officers is a primary responsibility for any strategic leader and communication advisor.
Doom and gloom are story headlines that grab a viewer’s attention. Similar to conflict-type stories, there are many stories that appeal to residents based upon having a genuine interest in public safety topics.
Ask any reporter and they will likely tell you that they love to do feel-good, compassionate stories. Don’t overlook opportunities to highlight your teams that engage in great deeds. These types of stories do well in mainstream media.
Novelty or oddity are elements that exponentially increase the likelihood of generating a news story. Remember, the odd, unusual, and extraordinary makes the news. Rather than send a news release inviting media to attend a police academy graduation, look for ways to incorporate novelty and oddity into what makes your police academy graduations different from everyone else.
As you can see, there are many complex elements that categorize traditional news values. The more elements contained in a story will increase opportunities to market your stories to reporters and news organizations. Have specific conversations about these elements before you approach your next news release or media advisory. This is what great advisors and leaders undertake with The Art of Strategic Communication!