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The ENABLING CHANGE Series

A series of specialised workshops to provide the strategies, skills and tools for those who run behaviour change programs.

 About Us
- Our History
- Our Approach
- Problems we can solve
- Some of our designs
- What our clients think
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 Our People
- Emma Kennedy
- Les Robinson
- Mark McGrath
- Warwick McDonald
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 Articles
-  Why unions need social marketing
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 Workshops
- Overview
- About Enabling Change
- Program Design
- Community Engagement
- Making Messages
- Promoting Health
- About the presenter
- Register
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 Campaign Resources
- Communication Planning
- 7 Doors Model
- Reader Friendly Text
- Tips for using the Media
- Social Marketing Guides
- Free Recycling Signs
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Getting your message to the media

In Australia there are approximately 90 television stations, 700 newspapers, 130 ethnic newspapers, 300 radio stations, 1300 magazines and 10,000 key media people. Given the right information, they will all want to know more about your campaign. Well some of them will.

Competition for news coverage is extremely heavy. Everyone is trying to find their way onto the evening's TV news, the breakfast radio programs and the morning's newspapers. It's been estimated that a newspaper newsroom can receive up to 500 press releases in one day with announcements covering everything from politics to the new red telephone box on George Street.

The importance of television

From a promotional point of view, it's hard to argue with the view that television is the most watched medium. Market research tells us that 80% of the public nominate TV as their source of news and information.

A good picture wipes out a thousand bad words

Television is much more about pictures than words. One illustrative picture on the TV news is worth a dozen press stories. A good picture can also wipe out a lot of bad coverage.

In the early 1980s then US President Ronald Reagan was under fire for cutting funds for disability services. During the day the cuts were to be announced his staff arranged for him to visit a disabled people's centre in Texas.

With plenty of TV crews present, he was seen being met by smiling people handing him flowers. News stories that carried pictures of the President along with often savage commentary.

One network reporter got a call from Reagan's press secretary. She prepared herself to be bawled out - but he congratulated her on the story.

When she asked if she was hearing right, he said, `Absolutely, the pictures were fantastic. The President was mobbed by happy, smiling disabled people. Noone remembers the voice-over, it's the pictures that have impact. It couldn't have been better for us.'

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