Create the Local Angle to Score Your Next Media Gig!

Jim Humphries, BS, DVM, CVJ
President, Veterinary News Network
Founder, American Society of Veterinary Journalists
Adjunct Professor, Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences


Unless you're doing a national broadcast, you MUST create the local angle to your story if you hope to have a chance getting it covered by the local press.

Local news needs to be both NEWSWORTHY and LOCAL. Short of that, local news producers are not interested in talking with you! That's the business they are in and that's what sells the valuable commercial time slots in those shows.

Even if you are an expert on a national level and plan to do a local news program, localize your story to have a personal impact on the local viewing audience. That's what news directors and producers want.

This localization concept is especially important to news producers where you have a specific national story and you wish to offer your expertise. The story could even be a pretty general topic (say a seasonal issue) and you could add great insight or expertise in the local media coverage.

Don't expect the producer or editor to be able to immediately grasp your simple local angle. You will need to clearly lay out for them how your experience, talents, education, and business can offer a unique local view on a story.

REMEMBER THIS:  News is Immediate, Personal, Relevant and Complete!

News means "new" or "immediate" (breaking, happening, now), and they are the mantras news producers live by.  A house fire is immediate, and therefore is news. We are all familiar with the concept of "breaking news" - a story that is unfolding right now. That's super-immediate news.

If you try to rehash old stories without a new angle you are not providing news. This is not to say you cannot recycle your work. In fact, recycling your work is highly recommended. This allows you to save time and effort pitching and completing media coverage time and time again on the same subject. But you absolutely must create a new angle on the story.  At some point in your call to producers and editors they will ask you, "What's new about this?" "When did this happen?" If you cannot prove that your story is new or very recent, your story will lose a great deal of its priority.

· The favorite word in any newsroom is: NOW
· The second favorite word is: TODAY
· The third favorite word is: SOON
· The fourth favorite word is: TOMORROW
· The most hated word is: YESTERDAY

Editors and producers ask themselves: "What's in this story for my audience?" "Does this story personally affect my readers, listeners, viewers?"

Before you pitch the media on your story, ask yourself. "How does my new diagnostic ultrasound machine affect readers?" "What features of our new hospital will benefit listeners?"

Once you answer this type of question, tailor your media pitch around this key ingredient. This is not as easy as it sounds. Since you are so close to your subject, you automatically see the benefit, but a producer or viewer may not. You must learn to boil such benefits down to their most basic components and clearly state the real and personal benefits or affect your story has on real people.

Once you have decided you can make your story newsworthy and have personalized the angle, make sure it's relevant to the audience.

"Relevant" to a news producer means "pertinent," "applicable," "appropriate," "significant," or "important."

Is your story important? To you the answer is always yes, but what about to the audience of the noon news? Relevance is a function of both the story and the media telling the story. A newspaper has various sections to handle this very idea. Hard news stories are captured on the front pages. Lifestyle issues have their own section,just as sports and business do. Those stories are significant in their own section, but probably not relevant in the main news section.

A TV station has news, variety or talk shows, weekend and Sunday morning-type shows. Where does your story fit? If your story is soft or flexible news, then the morning or noon news or mid-day variety show is probably the perfect place. If your story has a religious tone, then Sunday morning is the place. If your story is hard news or a local angle on national news, then the noon or evening news is the place for you to call.

So not only must your story itself be pertinent, important, and applicable, but you should pitch the media, program or section where your story would be most appropriate or relevant.

You must create the local angle to your story if you hope to have a chance getting it covered by the local press.  Local news needs to be both NEWSWORTHY and LOCAL. Those are the TWO pillars of your success on local news and even the general talk shows.

Until next time...

Dr. Jim

The complete media training article "You Must Create the Local Angle" can be found in our VNN Media Training Library at MyVNN.com.  

On or about July 15th, VNN will be releasing another video story.  Our latest release is about veterinarians using in-house laboratory analyzers to help with diagnosis of patients in a more expedient manner.  "Why Your Veterinarian Has An In House Laboratory" will be a great educational piece for your clients and maybe even your staff as well!

Remember, like ALL of our VNN resources, this story will have print resources in addition to the video story.   Use these other resources for your email newsletters, staff training, blog posts, or outreach to local media.  The print resources are also customizable, so make a few edits and highlight what your hospital thinks is important about this story!

Don't forget that our current story, Myths About Our Pets' Foods is also available for your use.  We have received some VERY positive feedback on this story from some very influential people.   I also noted that Dr. Brennan McKenzie, the author of SkeptVet and a Certified Veterinary Journalist with the American Society of Veterinary Journalists has also shared some of his thoughts about a very pervasive myth that states "veterinarians don't know much about nutrition".

Although it might be uncomfortable, these types of stories (nutrition myths) make great media because of their controversy.  So, even though you may not want to envision the negative comments on your Facebook page or blog, remember that these kinds of stories can generate a lot of notice for your site AND give you opportunity to engage more individuals.  THAT leads to more exposure via social networks and an increasing social reach/influence.