I normally pan top-10 lists, but this one sings, eh, zings: “10 Top Tips For PRs Considering Whether To Phone The Register. Dek: “You’ll Read These And LOL Even Though They’re Serious”. Read `em and believe `em, if public relations is your fame and contacting Joe Wilcox is your game.
The Reg gives great guidance, and I needn’t really add to the list but will a tinsy-bit. I read and file most PR emails sent directly to me. I just likely won’t respond, or will forward the message to someone else on the team. So if you don’t hear from me, despair not.
Something else Gareth Corfield’s post reveals. It’s subtle and highlights the difference between a blog and a news organization. The Reg has a newsroom:
Learn how a newsroom works, including details of its basic structure. If you think our editorial director is interested in listening to your intern read him a script about innovative web apps, quite frankly you should be flipping burgers in McDonald’s for a living.
Newsroom organization is one of the fundamental structures separating news-gathering professionals from bloggers. Think about it.
Over at BetaNews, where most of my tech reporting posts, the newsroom is virtual, because the staff spans continents. Editors and reporters gather in group chat to banter about trending topics, debate about anything, pitch stories, take assignments, report when stories are filed, discuss headlines, and receive editorial feedback. The copyeditor also monitors the virtual newsroom. The on-duty editor changes with time zones throughout the day.
Many professional blogsites also maintain quasi-newsrooms, if not of more traditional structure. Organization is crucial for choosing top stories and how they are presented, which might mean bundling related articles into a larger editorial package with separate hed and dek.
In the techsphere, so there’s no misunderstanding, because there is plenty: Sites like ArsTechnica, BetaNews, CNET, or The Register predate the blogs and, while operating online, more resemble traditional news establishments than new media shops.
Something else: Most news organization also post a masthead, because there really is structure and also accountability (and hopefully transparency) to readers. Masthead examples (including some professional blogs):
- CNET
- Engadget (where pretty much everyone is an editor)
- Mother Jones
- ProPublica
- The Register
- Tbe Verge
- Vice
Much as I am often offended by Huffington Post’s aggregation tactics, the massive masthead reveals a news organization within. Damn.
Photo Credit: David Sim