2009/11/30 Charles Matthews charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com:
In other words (and I believe this to be entirely true) if you want to "get the word out" through the media, you have to play the game their way. Writing a competent press release is just a way of showing you know what they want, and they certainly know what you want in terms of getting into the papers. (WP is immensely fortunate that it has grown by word-of-mouth, not hype.) But for this kind of thing you go along with the game: don't be lengthy, and don't be boring, and if they want corporate identity stuff you rely on them to ask. It's just about getting them to contact you.
Yep, yep, yep. As I keep saying: these days I don't get upset when they get something wrong, I'm deliriously happy when they get anything right.
Message: Wikinews exists, you can write for it.
(subtext: small project, still room to get in on the ground floor. Citizen journalism. Neutrality and high standards, not polemic. Etc., etc.)
[I've never managed to contribute too much to Wikinews - my experience of journalism is largely the polemical kind. I did get a photo of a terrorist suspect's house in there, 'cos it was just at the end of my street ...]
- d.