This document is available from KRON as a free download from their web site at:
http://www.kron.com/Global/story.asp?s=510446

"Doing your homework is the best way to ensure your announcement will be aired. This means knowing your audience, paying attention to station formats and writing the best possible announcement."

This useful media access guide, produced by the KRON (Channel 4) Television Station in San Francisco, offers detailed information about how to get public service announcements (PSAs), news stories and calendar events publicized via local broadcast programs. Available as a free download from the KRON web site, the guide contains a number of practical tips that nonprofits new to media advocacy work are likely to find especially helpful, such as how to get your community calendar announcement noticed by the editors ("it's the well written and easy-on-the eyes ones that are used most often") and how to attract reporters to your press conference ("think of a visual hook... remember, we are a visual medium.") Although some of the information is specific to KRON and the San Francisco Bay Area, many tips are applicable to media work in other communities as well. General information, for example, includes instructions for holding a press conference, for pitching a news story to a reporter or to the assignment desk, and for producing public service announcements. Sample formats clearly identify elements required for calendar events, press releases and PSAs. The resource section contains a comprehensive listing, with addresses, phone numbers, and personnel contact information for San Francisco Bay Area television, cable, and radio stations. The guide also includes contact information for KRON's three public affairs programs and for local organizations that produce videos or provide consultation on media advocacy.

Recommended for activists, community groups and nonprofits that are planning to include television stations as part of their media campaigns.