Media Relations: Communicating your research and expertise to

the public

Presented by the Office of University Communications

Press Release

Media Advisory

Active for Life e-newsletter

Monthly tip sheet

Internal Media

Sound Medicine

Research at Indiana University Web site

Men Want Hot Women, Study Reports

(professor uneasy)

“Uh, Duh?!”

(Professor not happy at all)

Cut-and-paste-palooza

(Tracy’s Schizophrenic)

How to get startedProfessor• Contact your liaison as much in advance of the journal publication or news

generating event as possible.• Send her proofs so she can read up and coordinate the release date with

the journal• Plan to talk with your liaison in person, over the phone or via e-mail about

your research or expertise (15 minutes to an hour) • ID pockets of time when you can talk to the media after the release is

distributed. You should have a little bit of time each day for several days.

Liaison• Draft a release or media tip for you to proof• Revise the item with your suggestions• Serve as the media contact if you want me to coordinate media interviews• Make pitches to appropriate external and internal media• Reuse the items when appropriate in our newsletters

Let us know about …• Awards – we spotlight a faculty or student achievement on our website each

day (http://newsinfo.iu.edu). They often are reused on other campus websites, including the IU gateway page

• Interesting media interviews – Google misses a lot. We prepare media reports almost daily that go to trustees, administrators, alums and “friends” of the university.

• Papers in press about topics you think could be of interest to the general public

• Papers in press in a major journal, about a significant discovery• Major grants, peculiar grants – before it’s official, if possible (we won’t

distribute anything without your approval) • Op-ed topics you’re interested in addressing• Trends or current events you’d like to address in the form of a media tip• Book publications – periodically we distribute a news release just about

recent book publications by IU faculty members. The research communications folks like to know about this, too

• Lectures, performances or events that could be included in events calendars or our Lecture Notes release

Bad news, it happens

• Let us know about anything involving your work that could generate negative or sensational news. Our boss, Larry MacIntyre (856-1172 and lmacinty@indiana.edu), typically gets the first calls from reporters when controversy is brewing or an unfortunate incident occurred. He is much more effective when he learns about the events from you, rather than the reporters.

• Media training – We can help prepare you for interviews, whether in a crisis situation or prior to an interesting news release. This can range from assistance and advice from Larry or tips and mock interviews by our writers and broadcast colleagues, to more structured media training sessions occurring periodically on campus.

Thanks for having us

The University Communications website, where news releases are posted, can be found at http://newsinfo.iu.edu. The site also includes contact information for the writers and lists our beat areas.