Our LIMBA speaker Friday was Roxanne Donovan, President of Great Ink Media Relations. Her expertise is in dealing with the press. She began by stating that what is said about you lives on. Therefore it is important that we must be careful and pro-active It’s a good idea to google your name at least once a week.

"If you get a call from a reporter, the story may have already been written." She stated you can influence the outcome of the story if you pro-actively call the reporter. Reporters are constantly under a deadline requirement and the story you tell has a good chance of being the story that is eventually written.

Reporters vs bloggers

Reporters have a standard of professional conduct that expects them to do their own research, and at the very least must stand behind what they write. Bloggers on the other hand do not usually have that kind of oversight.

Be respectful of a reporters deadline and get information out while there is still time to make changes. It is prudent to have low expectations of a reporters experience and expertise on the topic, he often covers several beats.

Bear in mind the reporting is subjective and he may interpret an event based on his own experience. It is your job to nudge him toward the true picture. There is ego involved and asking for changes on a material fact may be important but a trivial fact should be ignored.

Nurture good relations with reporters by commenting on the times when you liked their work, and don’t call a reporter when he is close to deadline.

The Press release

Press releases make the reporters job easier, if he calls for details he is just verifying the facts as stated and is able to complete a cogent article quickly.

Off the Record

This is a minefield that needs to be discussed. What does it mean? Does it mean he cannot mention it all? Does it mean he can attribute it to an industry source that is not named. Can he say he deduced it from other information he collected? Make it clear and have that conversation before you disclose "off the record" information.

After Roxanne’s formal remarks there was a very lively Q&A delving into the many statements you see above.

Michelle Zere brought today’s speaker to LIMBA Thank You

Ernie Fazio

Our sponsor for this program was Ronald Stair PhD, president of Creative Plan Design – Thank you Ron