If you’re organising an event or activity during Carers Week, don’t keep it to yourself! Make sure you contact your local media and help to spread the word.

Gaining coverage in the local media can achieve a number of objectives:

• For a public event it’s a brilliant way to reach your potential audience such as the general public or a more targeted group
• It’s a great way to get in touch with carers, who might not know about your organisation
• It helps to promote awareness about carers
• It achieves positive coverage for your organisation

What journalists want from you:

Newspapers, radio and TV are not rocket science. Journalists have space to fill in their paper or programme. They want stories - news that their audience will find interesting, entertaining or helpful. Every Carers Week activity and event is a potential source of stories and establishes you as a useful contact for a journalist.

Local reporters will generally find all of the following interesting:

• Stories about local people and their concerns
• A local ‘angle’ or comment on national news
• Facts and figures from your area that can supplement national news stories
• ‘Case studies’ - people willing to be interviewed about their experiences
• Events that are likely to have a good photo opportunity
• Local organisations lobbying their MP or council
• Achievements of local people or organisations
• Help or resources avaiable to their readers

Carers Week will provide all local partners with template news releases and other information, which you will be able to use to attract local news coverage. You should also find it increasingly easy to come up with news ideas and gain publicity, once you start to build your relationships with local media contacts.

Let your local newspapers, radio and TV stations know about what you are planning well in advance, because there is every chance they will promote your event before it happens as well as reporting on it afterwards.

Speaking to journalists

Getting in touch with the media need not be daunting. Here are some top tips to follow to make sure you provide journalists with everything they need.

1. Journalists are used to receiving information in the form of a press release. A press release is essentially a short summary of all the information they need along with contact details for them to obtain more information.
2. Find out who you should send your release to. Most journalists prefer to receive information by email and you can find out these details by calling your local newspaper or radio/TV station and asking to speak to their newsdesk. Local newspapers usually display their contact numbers and radio and TV stations often have a number in the ‘contact us’ section on their websites.
3. Once you are through to the newsdesk, find out the relevant email address and also take the opportunity to introduce yourself and briefly tell a journalist about your event. Don’t worry if they don’t have time to talk when you call, your press release will tell them everything they need to know and they can call you back when they have
   more time.
4. When you draft your press release, try to keep it to one page maximum, and keep to the point. Your first paragraph should summarise the main things you want to tell the journalist. This is usually:  
   1. Who is doing what
   2. Where and when it is happening
   3. Why the event is being held
5. The next paragraphs can provide more information and 'tell a story' in the same way a newspaper story does. Put the most interesting information first, for example quirky details or a human angle, such as personal reasons for getting involved. But keep descriptions fairly brief - you can always provide more details when the journalist calls.
6. Journalists receive hundreds of press releases so to ensure they notice yours, follow your email with a phone call the next day. If they are busy, just tell them your name, explain you have sent a press release and remind them to call if they need more information.