An Oldie But Goodie

I just told this tale to a student who got a good laugh from it, so I thought I'd post it....

Back in February, with Abraham Lincoln's birthday approaching, I went to History Chairman Stuart Leibiger and asked him, Tell me some little-known facts about Lincoln.

"He spoke with a southern accent," said Leibiger.

I was floored. Leibiger reminded me that Lincoln was born in Kentucky and never lost his twang.

So all those movies and TV shows in which actors in deep tones said, "Four Score and Seven Years Ago..." should have said, "Fah scah and sevin yahrs ago...." John Ostapkovich of KYW Newsradio did read a part of the Gettysburg Address with a twang, and Leibiger went on to explain that you can take the boy out of the south but you can't take the south out of the boy. He also told Ostapkovich that Mary Todd Lincoln had seven brothers and brothers-in-law who fought for the Confederacy, which didn't make her popular in Washington.

For Mom and Dad

In the newspaper business there is a story referred to as the "hometowner" -- this is a story about a person that is geared towards their hometown newspaper. For instance, The Bridgewater (NJ) Courier-News did a story about Management Professor James Smither receiving the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching because Smither lives in the paper's circulation area. His "hometown" is part of the paper's coverage. By far, the most hometowners we do are for students. Oh, and let me state for the record, these are mid-sized city, suburban, rural or weekly newspapers; many have regular columns for school/students news. Big city papers, like the Inquirer, will do a story on a student if they receive a patent or find a cure for a disease. It has to be really extraordinary. But for a hometowner about students, the story has to be interesting, or tells about an accomplishment. La Salle has an honor society, the Alpha Epsiolon Society, which recognizes high scholarship with community service. The following newspaper printed items about student who were inductedinto this society:

The Reading (PA) Eagle; the Doylestown (PA) Intelligencer; the Harrisburg Patriot-News; the Warwick (NY) Advertiser; the Pottstown Mercury; the (South Jersey) Courier-Post; the South Philadelphia Review; the Modesto (CA) Bee; the West Chester Daily Local News; the Tewksbury (MA) Advocate; Catonsville (MD) Times; the Chestnut Hill Local; the Ridgefield Press; the Rocky Hill (CT) Post; the Northeast (Philadelphia) Times; the Bucks County Herald, the Glenside (PA) News; the Jenkintown (PA) Chronicle; and web pages of the Hartford Courant; the Rockville (NY) Centre-Herald; and the Wilmington News-Journal.

So why do paper publish items on students being selected to an honor socieity: because they know mom and dad will buy extra copies of the paper!

Intelligent speculation

I spoke with a new faculty member and discussed media, and I used a phrase that's been helpful to me: Intelligent speculation.

Something that made my job easier was the collapse of Enron. I don't mean to sound flip, because many people suffered by that, but it helped me in this sense: the media knew that Enron was broke, but aside from that, nobody knew anything. Yet the media needed to report on this story. So, instead of hard analysis, they looked for intelligent speculation. Here, the experts speculated on the causes and affects of the collapse; later, when hard facts and details emerged, then the experts could comment on those items.

But intelligent speculation goes much further than that: as this faculty member pointed out, there are often no answers to questions, so in lieu of an answer, an expert's intelligent speculation can fill in the gaps and keep the public informed (to a degree).

If there's one field where intelligent speculation thrives, it's politics. Primary season ends in May, and the elections are in November. In addition to the day-to-day happening, readers/viewers want to know who'll win; there's no answer to that, so intelligent speculation is plied.

This isn't to say that "IS" can be used in every case; often experts are asked for their opinions ("Is this a good policy" or "will this boost the economy" or "will this trade make the Phillies a contender"), but again, those opinions are based on their expertise.

This is the life I have chosen

When I started this blog I had two goals: to keep it positive and educate people about the media business: I'm going to do the later but not the former in this post.

A married couple, who met at La Salle's foodcourt, were profiled today in a regional newspaper. It was a long, long story, but one fact was missing: how they met! If you write a story about a married pair, you have to -- MUST -- tell the reader how and where they met. This is Reporting 101 or Editing 101. Now, it's possible that the writer included this in their draft of the story and it was edited out for space reasons, but still, someone at some point should have read the story and asked, "Hey, how did these two meet?"

Too often the media will showcase a faculty member, student or alum and not identify them as being connected to La Salle. Here's why it hurts: if it weren't for me, the media would have never made contact with the La Salle person. Sure, the media might have several sources in a story, and other college PR departments have suggested sources. But today's episode really hurts because:

The story would not have existed without me!

I called an editor at the paper who was unaware of this couple. They assigned a freelance writer to do the article. The writer got the story because the editor knew about the couple. I'm not asking for a kickback, because this writer will be paid, but my currency is "La Salle" and they're getting a check in the mail because of my effort. I was all set to contact the parties involved and write, Hey, did any of you go to journalism school or "common sense 101," but as a wise friend told me, never do anything when you're angry. So, the writer and editor will not hear from me, even though I made the editor's job a little easier by alerting them to a good story and the writer who's getting paid for their efforts.

I keep reminding myself of a saying from a movie; it might have come from "The Godfather," but it was defiinitely a gangster pic:

"This is the life I have chosen."

The Alligator and the River

I have a vague memory/recollection about how a female alligator gives birth to many babies, and has to get them to a river very quickly; well, with all the dangers that lurk in the wilds, if 2 or 3 babies get to the water, that's a good number. Why the alligators don't birth at the river is a mystery, but the point I'm trying to make here is that if several La Salle stories are distributed and only one, two or three make it, then, well, we're as good as the alligators.

It could also illustrate how many steps this process takes: first, I have to make contact with the media; then they have to like what I give them; when they write their story or conduct a tv/radio interview, they have to include the La Salle mention in their content; then that person turns over the material to an editor or producer, who for a variety of reasons (space, time available for the broadcast, etc) could decide to trim the story and the La Salle reference, and then finally, the story has to be in the media: some stories are written but then are rejected when completed again for a variety of reasons. So, like those baby alligators, getting to the river (or airwaves) the La Salle material has challenges to overcome....

So far, batting .500

In my last post I wrote that four reporters said they would call La Salle faculty members to use as sources in their stories. Well, so far, one called and one didn't, so I'm batting .500. Even though some media members seek sources nationwide, they'll often use "hometown" sources, such as a reporter in Cleveland quoting a Case Western professor or a Wilmington (DE) News-Journal quoting someone from the University of Delaware. But, reporters will also like to use out-of-area sources to add new insights or seek a roundup of ideas from around the country.

So why would a reporter tell me they'll call a La Salle professor and then not follow up? If I knew the answer to that, I'd keep it to myself and get La Salle mentions around the world. Just kidding. Sometimes another source comes along that bumps the La Salle prof, or they try to reach the prof, can't, and because of deadline pressures will use someone else. Like all human endeavors this is a subjective process, but if a professor isn't called today, the media beast needs constant feeding and opportunities happen every day.

"I'll call them...."

"I'll give them a call...."

When I email the media info about a faculty member who could be a good source for their stories, I sometimes hear back from them with a note that says they'll call the professor. Well, this is like dating: you wait for that call...and wait, and wait....sometimes they call, sometimes they don't. Four reporters have told me this past week that they'll call La Salle faculty. Out of the four, well, if one follows up, that's ok; two is great; three is phenomenal and if four call back I'll retire. Still, even if they call the faculty member that's no guarantee the faculty member's comments will be used. When that happens I say to myself, if you fail 2/3 times in baseball, you're in the hall of fame.