Y&M Magazine - Resource of the Month

Making the News: A Guide for Nonprofits & Activists
written by Jason Salzman

Who is to blame for the media's scarce coverage of activist causes? The answer, says author and media consultant Jason Salzman, is everyone. For many activists, it's easy to blame the media. But Salzman argues that activists contribute to the problem when they don't show that their causes are newsworthy. He wrote Making the News: A Guide to Nonprofits & Activists, as a practical guide to make any event or idea newsworthy.

"Be newsworthy" is the main message of the book. But what is "newsworthy"? There are several qualities to a story that qualify: novelty, humor, shock, new data, conflict, prominent public figures, and many more. The book lists many of these and has several ideas about how to craft a news event or story that will reach your audience.

Following many examples of successful events and campaigns, the book gives activists a step-by-step guide to create a newsworthy media campaign. His goal-oriented approach will help less experienced readers understand the craft of public relations without getting lost in the details. Overall, the writing is lucid and cogent, made interesting through real-life examples from several creative campaigns.

Making the News takes the reader through the basics of public relations (developing a simple message, deciding who your audience is, how reporters and editors work, how to contact journalists, how to be a good interviewee) with a flair for nuance. Each chapter is short enough to digest easily and yet seems almost comprehensive.

The book continues with advice on setting up a permanent media-relations office. Salzman's practical tips on how to follow your coverage, cultivate relationships with journalists, and develop a long-term strategy are as good as his more fundamental tips. He also reviews enough other PR and media-related books to build a small library.

Few how-to guides, especially guides dealing with the art of public relations, are useful to newcomers and experienced practitioners alike. But Making the News is part of that rare breed. It gives helpful advice for anyone with a cause or event to publicize and challenges PR professionals and activists to be more creative with their work.

If you need one guide to public relations, this is it.

Salzman, Jason. Making the News: A Guide to Nonprofits & Activists. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado 1998.