When someone with something to say calls reporters together at one time to announce something they believe is newsworthy.

What Are Media Conferences?

Advantages

✴ Person who called the news conference doesn’t have to do separate interviews with media agencies.

✴ Reduces chance that one news agency misses the information.

✴ News agencies share the questioning so there’s less likelihood that a question will be overlooked.

Disadvantages

✴ Difficult to get an exclusive

✴ Those calling the news conference sometimes uses this as a way to get publicity for a topic that isn’t “newsworthy”.

When covering

✴Prepare ahead of time

Get background material

Prepare questions ahead

Figure out your angle

Questions may not relate to the news conference topic

✴Arrive early

✴Ask the name & title of person speaking and get correct spelling at the beginning.

When questioning

✴Ask clarifying questions✴Ask questions to get new

information

✴ If an announcement you expect isn’t made, ask about it.

✴Don’t be in a hurry to leave unless on a deadline. Sometimes sticking around can get you another good story or better information.

When writing

✴Be sure to include names and titles.

✴ Understand main points raised during the news conference

✴ Use strong sound bites or strong quotes.

Make sure spellings are correct. And know how to pronounce the names.

When writing

✴Don’t include the fact that you attended a news conference unless there was something significant about the news conference itself.

✴ Time and place of the news conference can often be left out.

Ex) Someone gets shot at the news conference.Ex) An earthquake happens during the news conference.

Ex) The news conference is cancelled due to a reason.

When writing

✴ Focus on newsworthy items.

WRONG: !A police chief today told a Press conference about the theft of a light aircraft from Jacksons Airport.

The news isn’t the press conference.

When writing

✴ Focus on newsworthy items.

WRONG: !A police chief today told a Press conference about the theft of a light aircraft from Jacksons Airport.

The news isn’t the press conference.

The news is the theft of the aircraft.

When writing

✴ Focus on newsworthy items.

RIGHT: !The Foreign Minister today cancelled a Press conference at which he was expected to announce new sanctions against South Africa. !It is understood that the last-minute cancellation was due to a disagreement in Cabinet over the sanctions.

Here you mention the news conference because the news is that it was cancelled because of an event. The cancellation is the news.

If several topics are covered

✴ Three basic ways to write the story

Write separate stories on each topic

Write one story with an intro that includes all the topics but one angle.

Write one story with several smaller sub-stories

News conferences

News eventsSometimes include:

and then…

Mock simulations

Purpose is to demonstrate