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What Makes A Story?

Before you even contact the media it's a good idea to think about what sort of story you have. If you are working in the voluntary and community sector you will be working with people, and that's all you need to make a story.

Readers/listeners/viewers like to know what people do and why they do it. Nosiness is basic human nature! Stories tend to fall into three categories: News, Features and What's On’s. News stories can become features, but on the whole news stories are shorter in terms of space taken up in a newspaper or on the radio and as a consequence they are also less detailed.

A news story can be more powerful if you can get someone to share their personal experience. In this example (click on the Media Player symbol below) Douglas Pope from Reydon explains to BBC Radio Suffolk's Mark Murphy what cutbacks in funding support services for people with dementia will mean to him.

(For a transcript of this interview please CLICK HERE)

What Is News?

News is something you'd tell your friend at the pub tonight, or gossip about over the garden fence. It doesn't have to be about disasters and accidents; it can be about something good that has just happened or is going to happen.

Here are some fictitious examples:

• 8 out of 10 people in Eye say they feel intimidated by groups of youngsters gathering in the town centre according to new research.

• Seagull Rescue Centre opens a new charity shop in Felixstowe on Monday

• Sudbury couple hope to raise £1,000 for SCOPE in a three legged sponsored walk

• "The Darkness" brothers Ed and Justin Hawkins present 2 Newmarket teenagers with awards for voluntary work

• Visually impaired people are being forced to use PIN numbers for some credit cards

"News is people. It is people talking and doing. Committee and Cabinets and courts are people, so are fires, accidents and planning decisions. They are only news because they involve and affect people" - Harold Evans, former editor of the Sunday Times

In some respects press, radio and television do look for different things in news (see "Getting to know the media" section) as they serve different audiences (e.g. age or location in county) but they all look for "people" stories.

   
"Residents in Haverhill evacuated to Leisure Centre
when their homes come under threat of fire in the town centre"

What is a Feature?

Features are hard to categorise as they come in different shapes and sizes. They can be on a variety of subjects from Alzheimer's Disease to starting a new business. Here are some examples:

Human Interest Feature - this could be a personal story, about a family's experience, how someone (or a group of people) has triumphed over tragedy or done something amazing. It could also be an opinion piece where someone explains how your charity has helped them or a profile of one of your volunteers

Behind the headlines feature - this can give the background to a story that has been making the news pages. It can include statistics, research e.g.. Life as a refugee in Suffolk - how many refugees are living in the county, what benefits/help they are given, what skills they have brought with them, personal testimonies.

Update feature - what has happened to a person or group 6 months after they hit the headlines.

What's On’s

A lot of stories can originate from something as simple as an event (an auction of promises, a fundraising dance, a sponsored walk etc). When you contact the media about an event, make sure you explain why you are holding it.

For example, it could be to raise funds for a charity that has helped you and that's the "people" bit. You might be able to get more coverage than just the listing in the "What's On" section, but make sure someone is available and willing to be interviewed.

Pigeonholes

There's more than news in a newspaper.

You may get more coverage if you angle your message so that it will fit into a pigeonhole other than that of hard news. This can be particularly effective if you're aiming at specific audiences. Of course, given a decent interval, the same basic story can keep cropping up in different parts of the same paper.

Here's a list in no particular order to get you thinking:

Look at your local papers to see what opportunities they offer you.

Pigeonholes in Local Radio

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