World Hepatitis Day: July 28 2012 www.worldhepatitisday.info

This is hepatitis...

Toolkit 2: Working with the Media

Creating an Awareness Campaign

This is hepatitis...Toolkit 2: Working with the Media

Clever use of the media can make sure your campaign reaches a large audience and grabs the attention of important stakeholders. This tool kit will help you to achieve media coverage not only for the ‘This is hepatitis...’ campaign and World Hepatitis Day, but throughout the year. It includes:

• SectionA-TalkingtotheMedia–It’sSimple!

•SectionB-GlobalMediaMaterialsAvailable

If you have any questions, email: contact@worldhepatitisalliance.org

Don’t forget to share with us details of your awareness campaigns throughout the year, as well as plans, coverage and photos from World Hepatitis Day itself.

This is hepatitis...Section A - Talking to the Media – It’s Simple!

Journalists are always looking for compelling stories. Offering journalists newsworthy information saves them research time, so they will often be happy to talk to you.

There are two types of story:

• Newsarticles cover current, topical stories that can be ‘pitched’ (sold) to a journalist at very short notice. These are published in daily printed or online newspapers or in broadcast news bulletins and are likely to only be interesting to journalists for a very short period

• Featurearticles are longer and more in-depth, providing analysis and commentary.

Features are often pitched up to six weeks in advance of publication or broadcast. These are published in monthly or weekly magazines, newspaper supplements, journals or broadcast programmes and are likely to be of interest to journalists at any time unless they are tied to a particular event

SettingObjectivesforCoverageTargets:

It is important to set clear and realistic objectives for gaining coverage. You might want to aim for 2 – 3 pieces of coverage in clearly identifiable forms of media.

Media‘Hooks’:

Before approaching the Media you should identify your ‘hook’. This is an angle to your story that will make it relevant and get the journalist interested in covering your news. These could include:

• Topicalissues: Link your story with topical, newsworthy issues, such as government priorities in addressing health inequalities.

• Data: Release a statement on new national or regional epidemiological or prevalence statistics, or issue existing data, if you have not already contacted the media about it. You could even repackage aspects of data already covered to provide a new angle or focus. Some data is available in the Alliance’s Viral Hepatitis: Global Policy report and we are expecting to have new prevalence and mortality numbers available from WHO shortly before World Hepatitis Day 2012

• Surveys: Create your own data by commissioning a survey. For example you could conduct a survey of primary care physicians and/or patients to determine how many times a patient complained of symptoms before being diagnosed. Online tools such as surveymonkey.com allow you to conduct short surveys for free.

• Events: Invite journalists and photo-journalists to participate in your events. This World Hepatitis Day, you may want to take part in the global WorldRecordAttempt, which will help generate media coverage. Please seeToolkit3-OrganisingEvents for more information. In order to maximise your coverage opportunities, you might want to arrange a photo call by contacting the picture desks of your target newspapers with information of the event and where/when it will take place

This is hepatitis...• SponsoredActivities: Large-scale or even small ones if they are interesting and different fundraising activities can also be of interest to local media. These can range from sponsored runs to parachute jumps and not only provide an important source of income but also a photo opportunity. For examples of sponsored activities from 2011, please see the 2011WorldHepatitisDaySummary

• Competition: Running a competition of some sort can give you multiple news hooks – for example when you launch the competition and then also when you announce the winners. The competition does not need to be complicated and could be as simple as asking designers to come up with new creative visuals for an awareness-raising campaign

• High-profileendorsement: Support from a well-known local figure or celebrity, such as a politician, actress, musician or sports personality can attract media interest. Try to find someone with a strong personal connection to hepatitis, arrange a photo opportunity or undertake a combined activity, for example issuing a joint media release or coordinating a charity football match. If they have limited time, you could ask them to provide a statement of support or a short video

• PatientStories: Patient case studies which provide a ‘real-life’ personal perspective of a disease are very important and many journalists will ask for this. You can interview a patient and write up their story for the journalist. You can also provide a photo. Journalists may want to interview the patient for live radio or TV. For support in working with case studies please email contact@worldhepatitisalliance.org

Note: It can be a big step for a patient to discuss their story in the media. Make sure the patient understands that their story will become public and are comfortable for people to know they have hepatitis.

A good case study may be...

• Someone who is able to provide an emotional account of their experience with the disease

• Someone who has an interesting angle e.g. an unusual job or hobby

• A valued member of society. Do they have a job, children, a family? All these things will make them more interesting to the media

• Identified with the readership of the target publication

• Have a positive angle, perhaps they are being treated

Prepare a pressreleaseormediastatement focussed around your ‘hook’ and use this as the basis for your initial communication with journalists. Be sure to include quotes from prominent partners and supporters. You may also want to develop a mediapack with all necessary information for the journalist, such as biographies of supporters, or factsheets (please see SectionB).

This is hepatitis...IdentifyingtheMedia:

•Useyourcontacts: Ask your partners for help. Pharmaceutical, political or celebrity contacts are likely to have established relationships with relevant journalists, or at least access to media lists

•Searchonline: Search for local, regional or national newspapers, health or socio-economic journals or broadcast stations. There will often be a general ‘press release’ submission email address or you can search for an appropriate journalist to contact directly. Alternatively simply search for ‘hepatitis’ to identify specific news or feature writers who are already interested to cover the topic

•Makeuseofwires: As well as specific publications you can submit your press release to newswires such as Reuters, Dow Jones or Bloomberg. If published, other syndicated publications may pick up the story. If you have budget, consider distributing your press release via a paid-for news wire service.

ApproachingJournalists

Follow these easy steps to help you to develop relationships with key journalists:

•Check who you should call first - the health or political writer/editor is usually the best person to start with

Toptip: Build a relationship; do not just call them once a year. Try to meet the most important ones regularly. Understand their interests by reading previous articles

•Call - it’s quicker than email, and it will help you to build your relationship with them

Toptip: Know when their deadlines are so that you don’t call them at the wrong time

•Be clear on what your story is about - give them a short summary, leading with your ‘hook’ and ask them if they are interested. If you have celebrity involvement or a good casestudy, tell them

•Follow up with an email - include your press release and relevant information like fact sheets (see SectionB)

•Monitor the publications - the journalist won’t necessarily tell you that they are printing your story

TargetingBloggers

Alongside approaching journalists, contacting online bloggers can be a great opportunity to spread the word about WorldHepatitisDay.

Sourcingblogs

•Use blog directories such as technorati.com

•Do key word searches on google blogs to find relevant blogs

•Find out if prominent organisations you work with have blogs e.g. universities, research centres, media outlets etc

This is hepatitis...Contactingbloggers

•Research the blog – Read their previous posts and find out what they like to blog about. Show you have considered how your campaign is relevant to their readers

•Find the preferred method of contact - Usually bloggers offer clear guidance on how they like to be contacted on their contact page – this is likely to be through email. Blogging is not usually a full time job and people tend to blog outside of other work commitments. t is important not to hassle them as this could ruin a potential relationship

•Compose a short, friendly email to the blogger. Comment on their blog, introduce yourself, and outline what you can provide them with that will be of interest to their readers. Keep the email targeted to their blog

Whatcouldyouofferbloggers?

•Anything exclusive. Think about

• Photos from events

• First look at new statistics

•Anything media rich that will improve the appearance of their blog. E.g.

• Embed code for the official World Hepatitis Day video or banner ads

• Jpeg files of the campaign posters for their blog

Timeline

MediaOutreachTimelineThe below diagram indicates a timeline of points to remember for your media outreach

2 months before WHD

Identifypublications,journalistsandbloggers

youwanttotarget

Developanewsreleasebasedonyournewshook

andsupportwithafactsheetabouthepatitis

1 month before WHD

Identifyandapproachspokespeoplewhowouldaddauthority

toyourcampaignandmediaoutreach

World Hepatitis Day

Continuemediasell-in

1 week before WHD

Beginmediasell-in

1 month after WHD

Collateandevaluateyourcoverageachieved

2 weeks before WHD

Issue'savethedate'totargetedmediatohighlight

forthcomingdate

Beginbloggeroutreach

This is hepatitis...Section B - Global Media Materials Available

The Alliance is developing a number of media materials, which can be used on and around World Hepatitis Day or throughout the year to approach and engage the Media. Package them together as a Media Pack to distribute, for example at awareness events.

•FactSheets – Fast facts on World Hepatitis Day 2012 will be made available on the World Hepatitis Alliance website in May 2012. Journalists also like to receive local statistics on prevalence and local case studies of people they can talk to and we encourage you to prepare this ahead of World Hepatitis Day

•ViralHepatitis:GlobalPolicyReport – Comparing the policy environment in your country with that of your neighbours also gives you a hook with which to gain media interest. Please see our updated policy toolkit, Using the WHO Resolution and Viral Hepatitis: Global Policy, for more information and guidance

•GlobalWorldHepatitisDayMediaRelease – This will mark 28 July as the second officially recognised WHO World Hepatitis Day, reflecting the ‘It’s closer than you think’ theme, as well as Alliance and WHO 2012 campaign messaging ‘Know it. Confront it. Get tested’. The advisory will be embargoed to 27 July 2012 and will be made available to you ahead of its global distribution for use in your national and local media campaigns

•AllianceandWorldHepatitisDayBoilerPlates – These short paragraphs, containing key messages of the Alliance and the ‘This is hepatitis…’ campaign, can be adapted and used in your local materials, ensuring that the messages communicated to the media are consistent with the global campaign and the mission statement of the Alliance

•CampaignMaterials – Generated to help you raise awareness of World Hepatitis Day, these materials can be used as advertisements in magazines or images in media articles. For more information, please see Toolkit1-WorldHepatitisDay2012

Remember!

Disease awareness is about more than just one day and we hope that you can continue to communicate with the media consistently throughout the year, as you build awareness of hepatitis in your own countries.