“Asean Risk Communication Training for Trainers” Workshop

• ROLE OF MEDIA IN ASSISTING HEALTH PROFESSIONALS by Yong Soo Heong, Editor-in-Chief, BERNAMA (National News Agency of Malaysia

• Kuala Lumpur Dec 18, 2012

•WHY BOTHER ABOUT THE MEDIA?

•STRONG DEPENDENCE ON MEDIA IN DAILY LIFE

•GETTING STARTED, KNOWING YOUR ALLIES

•PRINT MEDIA: NEWSPAPERS

•BROADCAST MEDIA: TV STATIONS & RADIO STATIONS

•SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, NEWS PORTALS, BLOGS

•STRUCTURE OF TYPICAL MEDIA ORGANISATION

•Head or Editor-in-Chief•Deputies

• Section Heads of News Desks (Politics, Business, Health, Women’s Affairs, Courts, Crime, Entertainment, Agriculture, Uniformed Services, Lifestyle, etc)

• Journalists or Reporters • He or she gathers the news or

content by being on the scene or by phone, email

• Sub-Editor or Copy Editor• He/She is the checker, quality

controller, shaper, polisher…

• The Editor• He/She is the boss of the

Journalist and Sub-Editor

OTHER TITLES

• Editor-At-Large• Correspondent• Bureau Chief• Associate Editor• Stringer

•MEDIA CAN’T DO WITHOUT OUTSIDE HELP

HOW TO GET STARTED

•START CONTACTING, BUILD UP CONTACTS

•GET TO KNOW THE MEDIA: WHO’S WHO?•BUILD UP A MEDIA LIST

•STATEMENTS, PRESS KITS, BRIEFINGS, PRESS CONFERENCES

•Planning the press statement

• Inverted pyramid approach…

• Intro…it’s the opening sentence at the start of statement or news story (it should preferably aim to tell the story all at once)

•Body of story (include all useful details…facts, figures, quotes, background of subject matter)

•Conclusion…sentence to round off the issue

• CONTACT DETAILS• Name of organisation or unit• Person(s) to contact & office

telephone numbers, mobile phone numbers and email addresses• Website address

•BE IN CONTROL AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE•Don’t be intimidated by

journalists…you control the facts & news flow

• IF UNSURE…DON’T GIVE PHONE INTERVIEWS•Better to have face-to-face

interviews

•Depend on a written statement so that you have something to fall back on if things do not go well as planned

•ASKING FOR RIGHT TO CHECK OR VERIFY FACTS

•Absolutely important when relationship with journalist is new or you do not know of his or her capabilities at all

•YOU CAN ALL DO IT!•THANK YOU!