Dealing with the press

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Generally speaking the press has two major priorities:

• to get 'copy' - material to fill up newspaper columns;
• to get good 'stories' - articles that have a human interest value and which have the effect of lightening up the contents of the newspaper.

When you are dealing with someone from the press it is likely that they will make a quick assessment as to which category your information falls into, and this assessment is likely to be important in determining what actually happens to the information that you pass over. By giving your information a 'human interest' dimension it may be possible to get much fuller coverage than would be possible otherwise.

For example, if you were waiting to publicise a gala in your community you might simply pass details of the event over to a local paper. Alternatively, you might write a short article on the person who is organising the event and the particular problems that have been encountered on the way. If you choose the first option it is likely that the information will be tucked away in a corner of the paper where not many people will notice it, whereas if you choose the second option you may find that a fairly lengthy article appears with a photograph alongside.

The primary concern of the press is to sell newspapers and that means providing news and information that people will want to read. So try to make sure that you are providing material that will interest people as well as simply inform them.

You should also keep in mind that journalists have the power to edit news items. In practice this means they can put an emphasis on particular words or events that you may not have intended and in this way the message that you were trying to convey may end up getting distorted. The solution is to try to ensure that you choose your words carefully, knowing that anything to say could end up as a headline. It is not difficult to make the headlines in a local paper, but it is sometimes difficult to live with the headlines that you make!

Try to remember also the constraints that local newspapers work under. They have tight deadlines to meet so make sure that you that you submit your copy in plenty of time. They also appreciate information and articles that can be printed without a lot of cutting and reorganising so try to make sure that the information you provide is to the point.

Handling press interviews

When you are actually being interviewed by a journalist it is necessary to be particularly careful about what you say. It is easy to be caught off guard and to say something that you didn't really mean. Be very wary about off the record comments because they may end up being attributed to you.

The best approach is to think out what you want to say before the interview starts. If that means taking a few minutes to prepare your thoughts, do so. Try to be clear about what sort of message you want to convey, and make sure that it doesn't get lost during the interview. What happens to that message later on is in the hands of the journalist!

Keeping people informed

It is worth remembering that, for most people in your community, the only regular information about the work of the community council that they have access to is what they read in the press. For this reason, it is a good idea that community councils make every effort to pass good quality information to the local press on a regular basis. The more informed members of the community are about local issues the greater the likelihood that they will want to get involved in what's going on.

For all enquiries on community councils in Renfrewshire, please contact:

• email: community-council.cs@renfrewshire.gov.uk
• phone: 0141 840 3147
• write to: Senior Committee Services Officer (Community Council Liaison), Finance and Corporate Services, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley, PA1 1TR

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