Journalists Offer Tips on Coverage in Changing Media Landscape
Marketing and public relations professionals from various Miami arts organizations gathered at Actors’ Playhouse for the annual Meet the Media workshop, part of the Miami Arts Marketing Project of the Arts & Business Council of Miami.Returning as moderator was Suzette Espinosa, assistant vice president of public relations for the Adrienne Arsht Center, who after introducing the panelists shared a Top 10 list of public relations pointers for gaining coverage as well as several personal tips from her work at the Arsht Center. Particularly, how she now utilizes the center’s Facebook page as a way to save time on having to constantly update their sites blog.Christine Dolen, now editor of Thursday’s Tropical Life in the Miami Herald, which focuses completely on the arts and who also edits the Sunday Arts Scene round up, asked participants to send her compelling events to include in those sections. In the Arts Awakenings section, the focus is on an individual and what made that person fall in love with the arts; on Sundays she writes about affordable arts.
Steve Rothaus, with the Miami Herald since 1985, talked about his ever-changing roles at the paper and recognized that “PR executives are great about keeping up with those changes. Wearing many hats has shifted the PR/media relationship,” he says.Nelly Rubio, community relations director at CBS4, handed out her personalized tip sheet to everyone and urged all in attendance to submit events to Focus on South Florida, their public affairs show that airs Sunday mornings on MyTV 33 and also to their community calendar. “I use seven events from our community calendar submissions every Friday as a round-up, and it’s also important to list your organization as a charity because those get looked at first,” she said.On Social Miami, Editor Aaron Glickman mentioned their column by Manny Hernandez, which is where most galas or openings are mentioned, and to get those in early because they offer five weeks of pre-publicity and one of post publicity. Video is also very effective, he said. “The strategy is to put content out there on a continuous basis with frequency that speaks to what your objective is and that you can be proud of.”WLRN’s Alicia Zuckerman said “arts & culture is a very large part of our vision” and stressed to attendees to study up and ensure their pitches are appropriate for the station. With 25 newscasts a day there are plenty of opportunities to get mentioned. The weekend roundup show is another place where the arts are always discussed. “We’re always looking for a good story, like what motivates an artist when they create their work?” she said. Listening to all their coverage including national shows like Studio 360, Here & Now and The World is also vital because they do heavy arts coverage as well.At Community Newspapers, Jose Bowles in Digital Media introduced their new blog the Miamian.com, a new feature on their site. And for his area he suggested sending videos, photos and grand opening info among others because they have more flexibility on these. “Our hyperlocal angle of coverage sets us apart. We want to make sure the readers of our community are connecting locally." He rattled off deadline days and said one of the groups they give preference to, like CBS4, is charities.To end the morning workshop, panelists continued the conversation directly with the audience with a Q&A, where additional tips from panelists were given on what they do and how they will use what is sent to them.
Steve Rothaus, with the Miami Herald since 1985, talked about his ever-changing roles at the paper and recognized that “PR executives are great about keeping up with those changes. Wearing many hats has shifted the PR/media relationship,” he says.Nelly Rubio, community relations director at CBS4, handed out her personalized tip sheet to everyone and urged all in attendance to submit events to Focus on South Florida, their public affairs show that airs Sunday mornings on MyTV 33 and also to their community calendar. “I use seven events from our community calendar submissions every Friday as a round-up, and it’s also important to list your organization as a charity because those get looked at first,” she said.On Social Miami, Editor Aaron Glickman mentioned their column by Manny Hernandez, which is where most galas or openings are mentioned, and to get those in early because they offer five weeks of pre-publicity and one of post publicity. Video is also very effective, he said. “The strategy is to put content out there on a continuous basis with frequency that speaks to what your objective is and that you can be proud of.”WLRN’s Alicia Zuckerman said “arts & culture is a very large part of our vision” and stressed to attendees to study up and ensure their pitches are appropriate for the station. With 25 newscasts a day there are plenty of opportunities to get mentioned. The weekend roundup show is another place where the arts are always discussed. “We’re always looking for a good story, like what motivates an artist when they create their work?” she said. Listening to all their coverage including national shows like Studio 360, Here & Now and The World is also vital because they do heavy arts coverage as well.At Community Newspapers, Jose Bowles in Digital Media introduced their new blog the Miamian.com, a new feature on their site. And for his area he suggested sending videos, photos and grand opening info among others because they have more flexibility on these. “Our hyperlocal angle of coverage sets us apart. We want to make sure the readers of our community are connecting locally." He rattled off deadline days and said one of the groups they give preference to, like CBS4, is charities.To end the morning workshop, panelists continued the conversation directly with the audience with a Q&A, where additional tips from panelists were given on what they do and how they will use what is sent to them.