My Thanks to the Public Relations Personnel of the Army

To anyone who has ever had a loved one in the army you know that when you can’t contact them it is hard. My brother recently joined the Army Reserves which meant that he had to go to Army basic training. While the soldiers in training go through basic they get limited contact with anyone outside of their platoon. The sergeants at the fort my brother was located at created a Facebook group for the families and friends of the soldiers going through basic. The Facebook group stood as a support system for the families, a way for the sergeants to update, and a place for pictures to be posted of the soldiers training. Through this Facebook group my family found a link to MSNBC that had a picture of my brother. Through the Army’s public relations efforts we were able to get updated on my brother who we hadn’t spoken to since Feb. 1^st. So I would like to thank those public relations professionals for the update:  Army training: Bayonets out, ‘ab blasters’ in; Five-mile runs also nixed in first changes to regimen in 30 years.

TOW: Week 11- Infographics

An infographic according to Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques by Dennis L. Wilcox is a “computer-generated artwork that attractively displays simple tables and charts.” Simple infographics can be created in Microsoft Office or for more compile designs you can use InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator (Adobe).

The client I have chosen for our class is Kappa Delta. More specifically I have chosen to focus on one of Kappa Delta’s national and local philanthropies, Prevent Child Abuse America. If I created an infographic for Kappa Delta I would more specifically choose to show an aspect of child abuse. According to the Prevent Child Abuse website there are three types of abuse: emotional abuse, neglect, and physical abuse. With all three types of abuse combined looking into the cost within the United States can be mind opening.  According to Ching-Tung Wang, Ph.D. and John Holton, Ph.D. in their publication Total Estimated Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States  the total direct cost of child abuse in 2007 was $33,101,302,133. That large sum can be broken down further into the following: Hospitalization $6,625,959,263; Mental Health Care System$1,080,706,049; Child Welfare Services System $25,361,329,051; Law Enforcement $33,307,770. Further information on the definition and specifics of these cost are further explained in their publication if you would like more information.

If more people understood the impact and cost of child abuse than I think that more people would assist in the prevention and detection of it. Unfortunately it is easy for people to be so caught up in their own worlds that it can be hard for them to even imagine that such violence could exist. The large sum of $33 billion dollars is hard to ignore when shown the facts and with an infographic I think more people would be compelled to look at the graphic versus having to read an article to see the information.

Chapter 8: Selecting Publicity Photos and Graphics

Photos and graphics can say just as much as the words in the story if captured or created in the proper context. I love photography so here are some hints and tips that I found helpful!

1. Composition of the photo is the most important aspect. Once your subjects are decided upon make sure you focus on the central part of your photo; you do not want extra background that does not add to the context of the photo. Background should be included if it helps to provide the context for the main subject of your photo. Make sure that your photograph does not look like it is for pure advertisement- think about the news value of the photo.

2. Interest can be achieved through the proper use of camera angles. Look for angles and aspects that photos are not normally taken from. Extreme close-ups, shooting upward, aerial shots, and using special lens all create a new view to the “normal” picture.

3. Use cropping and retouching to make the most of your photos. Editing should not change the picture its self but the quality of it. There are many ethical considerations when it comes to retouching photographs.  Susan Walton says you should ask yourself these three questions when deciding how to change a picture:

• Does the image alter reality?
• Does the image intend to deceive in any way?
• Has anything in the image been manipulated to imply endorsement of, or agreement with, your organization’s views when that might not have been the photographer’s or subject’s intent?

*This information has been taken from the sixth edition of Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques by Dennis L. Wilcox.

Chapter 7: Creating News Features and Op-Ed

This chapter includes a lot of interesting information but from this chapter I found feature stories to be the most interesting. So here are some facts I learned on feature stories:

1.  There are several types of feature stories:

• Case study
• Application story
• Research study
• Backgrounds
• Personality profile
• Historical feature

2.  When writing a feature story you include a letterhead, contacts, headlines and datelines just like you would for a news release. Photos and graphics should also be used with the story to enhance its usability.

3. Feature stories should usually include the following

• Direct quotes from people
• Concrete examples
• Basic statistics or research findings
• Descriptive words that paint mental pictures
• Information presented in an entertaining way

 

*This information has been taken from the sixth edition of Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques by Dennis L. Wilcox.

TOW: Week 9 & 10

PR OpenMIC is an online is a “social network for PR students, faculty and practitioners worldwide.” Since this week was the first time I had ever looked at the PR OpenMIC website I found that there was a lot to learn about what this online networking site had to offer!

The first thing that I thought was neat about the PR OpenMIC is that there is the “Jobs/Interns Together” link. This part of the website connects you to the TwitJob Search which to be honest I didn’t even know Twitter had. Every week I feel like I am learning something new about Twitter and how much you can use it for the PR field! But the tab button for “Job/Intern” is a great source for recent grads because the job market is very tough right now and any lead to a job is helpful.

Another aspect of PR OpenMIC is the resources tab. Underneath the tab you will find a “PR News” link. As we are writing about PR connections for our PR writing class this is a great resource to see how the Public Relations field is constantly being used every day. I know that if I get a job in the PR field I will constantly have to be reading and updating myself on what is going on in the world and all the new technologies that are being created for PR use!

I also found the “Discussion Forums” to be of great help! Throughout these forums you will find that people have posted questions to be discussed along with interesting facts, advice, and recent news.

There are lots of other aspects and opportunities that the site offers so I would recommend that if you are in or pursuing the PR field to join this networking site! I could see this site becoming a lot bigger than it is in the upcoming years!

Chapter 6

Once again here is some information that I found interesting from chapter 6, Preparing Fact Sheets, Advisories, Media Kits, and Pitches. If you want to know more about this check out the book: Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques by Dennis L. Wilcox!

1. There are several types of fact sheets: one for an upcoming event, a one-page sheet giving key facts about an organization, one that summarizes a new product’s characteristics, or a question-and-answer format!
2. A basic media kit includes:  A main news release; a news feature; fact sheets on the product, organization, or event; background information; photos and drawings with captions; biographical material on the spokesperson or senior executive; and some brochures.
3. From reading the chapter it is easy to see that almost everything is moving from paper to electronically. What is scary is for me to think about is if you don’t back up everything you work on it can all be lost in a matter of seconds if your computer crashes or you get a virus.

TOW: Week 8 -The NewsU The Lead Lab course

This past week for in my PR Writing Class we completed the News U The Lead Lab course. This course fully explored almost every aspect on  how to write a lead. After exploring the online lab we had an assignment where we got  to play reporter then wrote the lead from two different aspects. Like most assignments for our PR Writing class I learned a lot more than expected  and realized just how much help I needed in this area! Here are some of the basic ideas from The Lead Lab which I hope you too will learn from (please note that the following information has all been obtained from this course provided by Poynter News University). When writing a lead, there are two different types, a direct lead and a delayed lead.  The direct lead focuses on getting the news straight to the reader; the reader in this case wants the information in those first couple sentences. I personally feel like the more “on the go” and rushed our society becomes the less they want to read, therefore the lead is all you have as a journalist to get your information out there. The second type of lead, a delayed lead, gives information that tells you what the story is about but you have to read the rest of the story for more information. Direct leads can be either a summary or analysis while a delayed leads can be classified under anecdotal, significant detail, round-up, or emblem (go take the course if you want to find out more!!). What surprised me about this course is that so much goes into just the lead. But now that I think about it the lead is the first 5 seconds that the writer has to gain the attention of the reader. After taking this NewsU course I want to further learn and better analyze my future articles so they can be effective and newsworthy.

PR has Kate Gosselin a media star

It is crazy to think how a mother of 8 children can become a media star for being just that a mother. The original show Jon and Kate Plus Eight grew as the controversy around the family began. Some people promised they would never watch the show again after the divorce of Jon and Kate but all the talk only made the ex-couple more famous. Kate’s PR representatives have had to “work their tails off” to take the negative PR and spin Kate’s reputation into a more positive one. It was announced yesterday during The Bachelor that Kate Gosselin would an upcoming contestants on the hit show Dancing With The Stars. More information can be found on ABCNews website.