Media handling

Media handling is all about building relationships with regional, national, and trade journalists, and making sure that they receive accurate information about a brand or company or organisation, at the right time and in the right way.

Sometimes something happens, even to quiet companies who have no intention of being in the news, which attracts the attention of journalists.

They recognise that whatever has happened would be interesting to their reader.

Whether you like it or not, you’ve become newsworthy.

Journalists will ask you questions, and you need to be ready with an answer.

You absolutely must not ignore them: if a journalist asks you for a statement, and you don’t provide one, they will talk about the story anyway.

They will mention in their news piece that they asked you for a statement, and that you didn’t respond.

That looks suspicious, or lazy, or shady, or bad – and it WILL damage your reputation.

Don’t worry though.

If something happens which you don’t expect, and a journalist contacts you asking for a response, I can help.

Get in touch straight away, and I’ll help you put together an appropriate statement to answer the query.

I can also help you plan and write proactive media content.

If you have an event coming up that you want people to know about, and to reflect well on your reputation, I’ll put together a proactive media handling plan (if it’s appropriate), write and issue a press release, and look for any other opportunities to boost your reputation and get your story into the news in a positive way.

The important thing is to plan carefully ahead of time.

Do you need support with media handling?