I was asked to comment recently for PR Moment’s feature on How to Humanise Your PR Stories, which was exploring how to engage the media – and your audience – with a good, well-told story.
What makes news is a perennial question and one made more complex in an age of social media and the proliferation of news outlets.
Real news is made up of the events and happenings that impact our lives, whether in politics, crime, health, society, the environmental or business. This is real news created by an established process. However, it can also be the unexpected, such as natural disasters or a terrorist incident or, on a lighter note, an unusual twist to a routine event.
On the other hand, ‘fake news’, ‘celebrity news,’ slanted opinions and meaningless surveys are designed to create an aura of importance or relevance but which, in reality, are artificial. Busy journalists won’t appreciate being ‘sold’ anything which falls into the categories above. However, creating stories about real people with real meaning, which illustrate and humanise current issues or trends is a good way to generate coverage and deliver your key messages in a clear and compelling manner.
Peter Davenport, Senior Strategic Consultant