News leaders share tips with media professionals
The Tulsa chapter of the Association for Women in Communications (AWC) held a forum Tuesday afternoon for media professionals to learn how to get their messages covered by news outlets.
The group assembled a panel of leaders from local print, online, and broadcast news oiutlets who discussed a wide variety of topics, including what makes an interesting story for their respective outlets, how much advance notice should be given to reporters and publishers, the importance of deadlines, and how to craft a message that stands out among the hundreds of emails editors, producers and reporters receive daily.
Panelists for the event, which was held at Tulsa’s Central Library, were Nehemiah Frank, Editor, Black Wall Street Times; Tim Landes, Digital Editor, Tulsapeople Magazine; Guillermo Rojas, Editor, La Semana; Jeromee Scot, Executive Producer, 6 in the Morning; and Mike Strain, Managing Editor, Tulsa World.
Following an introduction by AWC Board President Jillian Schillaci and a presentation on media best practices by Nicole Burgin, Media Relations Manager
At Tulsa Community College, and Hannah Jackson, Senior Vice President at the public relations firm Schnake Turnbo Frank, the panelists spoke about their experience in the publishing and broadcast industries and took questions from the moderator as well as from audience members.
The panelists represented a diverse cross section of local media. The Black Wall Street Times is an online publication, the Tulsa World is a daily print newspaper with a growing online presence, La Semana is a weekly bilingual print and online publication, Tulsa People is a monthly print magazine with extensive online offerings, and 6 in the Morning is a daily television program of local CBS affiliate KOTV.
Even those media outlets with significant investments in printed newspapers and magazines agreed that having robust online and social media offerings is vital both now and in the future.
“The website has really become the biggest part of what I do,” Strain said. “We are constantly updating it.”