BenBethel
03-16-2003, 02:18 PM
I went to my training yesterday in Phoenix - what a beautiful setting, surrounded by flower beds, rolling hills of golf courses, and the mountains of the world's largest city park... couldn't have been better. Going from the information area to the practice area was awesome - there must have been 50 golfers with their jaws on the floor... talk about segway envy! I half look forward to this and half will feel uncomfortable about this - attention is totally great, but only to a point, and not when I feel so exposed and out in the open. Must be my inherent Catholic guilt dealt out by my mother and some Jesuits as a kid!
Anyway, my question is this: how to deal with the media. I'm a bit of a shoe-in for press coverage since I'm the vice-chair of the central city planning commission in Phoenix, am a downtown advocate, and my roommate works for one news station, two good friends work for two others, one of which is the CNN affiliate here, and my step-sister's one of the directors of CNN Headline News in Atlanta. And there are a few friends in the press here as well.
So, I have a hunch I'm going to have some of them nagging me, wanting to run stories. I'm willing, it'll be my pleasure. What should I totally avoid? What should I emphasize? Any decent sound bites you can suggest? No matter how good they are, I'm well aware of their mottos "if it bleeds it leads" and "we don't tell the world what to think, we tell the world what to think about".
Have you seen mistakes in past coverage? Things you applaud?
Thanks a million for your suggestions on this...
-Ben
www.benbethel.com
Anyway, my question is this: how to deal with the media. I'm a bit of a shoe-in for press coverage since I'm the vice-chair of the central city planning commission in Phoenix, am a downtown advocate, and my roommate works for one news station, two good friends work for two others, one of which is the CNN affiliate here, and my step-sister's one of the directors of CNN Headline News in Atlanta. And there are a few friends in the press here as well.
So, I have a hunch I'm going to have some of them nagging me, wanting to run stories. I'm willing, it'll be my pleasure. What should I totally avoid? What should I emphasize? Any decent sound bites you can suggest? No matter how good they are, I'm well aware of their mottos "if it bleeds it leads" and "we don't tell the world what to think, we tell the world what to think about".
Have you seen mistakes in past coverage? Things you applaud?
Thanks a million for your suggestions on this...
-Ben
www.benbethel.com