4 Questions to Evaluate the 'Newsworthiness' of a Story
What makes a news item newsworthy to a newspaper editor?
Here are several questions to ask when preparing a news release for a newspaper:
Who is your target audience? -- If your audience is merely your own congregation, don’t bother the editor with it. If your target audience is, however, motorcycle enthusiasts for an aerial motorcycle jumping evangelistic outreach, then it may be newsworthy.
Does it have community-wide interest? -- In other words, would people in the community (the paper’s readership) care about the event? Free flu shots for children are newsworthy and have mass appeal; a new John Deere tractor for mowing the church lawn does not.
Does it happen every week, or is it a once-in-a-long-time event? -- Wednesday night fellowship meals, weekly Sunday services, and sometimes even Easter events do not count as newsworthy events in the eyes of editors. They happen so frequently that their luster has diminished.
Is it unusual? -- A popular maxim in the world of journalism is that a headline that reads “Dog Bites Man” is not a story. Everyone knows someone that has been bitten by a dog. But a headline that reads “Man Bites Dog” is a story! The key word is: Uniqueness. Ask yourself: Is this story idea out of the ordinary?
(This excerpt taken from my free report titled "Getting Your Church Name and Event in the Local Newspaper" -- click here to down it.)
Here are several questions to ask when preparing a news release for a newspaper:
(This excerpt taken from my free report titled "Getting Your Church Name and Event in the Local Newspaper" -- click here to down it.)
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