Prelims

Half Title Page

Writing for the Media

Title Page

PRCA Practice Guides

Writing for the Media

By

Adrian Wheeler

FPRCA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2019

Copyright © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited

Reprints and permission service

Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the text, illustrations or advertisements. The opinions expressed in these chapters are not necessarily those of the Author or the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78756-614-9 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78756-611-8 (E-ISBN)

ISBN: 978-1-78756-613-2 (Epub)

Contents

Foreword

PRCA Practice Guides are a series of uniquely practical and readable guides, providing public relations (PR) and communications professionals, new and experienced alike, with hands-on guidance to manage in the field. Written by experienced practitioners who have been there and done it, the books in this series offer powerful insights into the challenges of the modern industry and guidance on how to navigate your way through them.

This book sets out to help PR and communications get better results from their media relations, including a better profile in the media, and more pieces of press coverage that reflect positively on your organisation or client. In 1924, Basil Clarke, one of the first PR practitioners, said: ‘99 per cent of the copy sent to newspapers is doomed to the waste-basket’. Ninety years later Anthony Hilton, a distinguished and popular City Editor, said: ‘The trick is to find the one release in a hundred which has something interesting to say’. Nobody wants to accept a hit rate of one per cent, and nobody needs to. Successful media programmes depend on three factors: knowing the media and knowing a lot about them; never issuing a ‘story’ which isn’t really a story; and writing in a manner which the media appreciate. It is the third of these factors which this book addresses. Journalists are taught to construct stories and write English in a particular way; PR people, in general, are not. Learning how to emulate the media’s own rules and style has an immeasurable effect on take-up. The book is meant to be used as a practical guide and it contains numerous examples, checklists and quotes from eminent journalists.

Adrian Wheeler started out as a local newspaper reporter before training at a financial PR firm in the City. He co-founded Sterling Public Relations, a general practice agency, in 1976. This firm became the UK office of GCI Europe. As Chief Executive Officer of GCI UK, Wheeler led the company into the UK Top Ten and in 2000 and as Chairman of GCI Europe, he oversaw the development of a 28-office network with 53 multi-country clients. Since 2006 he has been a Partner in Agincourt Communications and a Non-executive Director at Liquid, London Communications Agency and Best Communications in Prague. He is a Fellow of the PRCA and a PR trainer who teaches clients and consultancies throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Francis Ingham

Director General, PRCA

Chief Executive, ICCO

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Isabella Ross for her help in reviewing the draft of this book and contributing many valuable suggestions.