# Charities €˜missing the point' to get stories in the media

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/11/08/charities-e%cb%9cmissing-point039-get-stories-media/
- Published: 2006-11-08T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Charity PR attitudes are amateurish and miss the point according to social affairs
correspondent for the Daily Express, Sarah O’Grady.
Speaking on a panel session 
at the Institute of Fundraising’s Fundraising PR and Communications conference yesterday
O’Grady said she was constantly surprised at how many charities don’t approach her.
I’m surprised with the amateurish attitude of PR departments, she said. Your stories
are all very worthy, but simply not newsworthy. You are missing the point.

Both she and Diane Reid, charitable appeals advisor of BBC Television – both of 
whom are charity trustees themselves and have been involved in fundraising for various
causes – agreed that many charities think they have a right to speak or have their
story printed, without grasping what will be of interest to viewers or readers.

Lee Winter, chief reporter for the Kent Messenger Group echoed this. There’s a tendency
for charities to send us ideas and then to be slightly miffed when we bury their
story on page 40, he said, and explained that to get into the paper at all, the
story must be relevant to the paper’s catchment area and have a strong human interest
hook.

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For BBC radio, charities need to be just the right side of nagging to get themselves
heard according to Denis Nowlan, network manager of Radio 4. He said that fundraisers
generally don’t understand the constraints under which the BBC’s editorial staff
work and that we can’t report your fundraising story unless there’s something dodgy
about it. He went on to explain that this isn’t necessarily designed to be a criticism
of fundraising or to generate negative media coverage, but that it stems from looking
at how effectively you are fundraising and spending public donations and is there
anything you could be doing better.

In answer to a question from the floor, all four speakers agreed that press packs–
those glossy brochures designed to tell the press how wonderful our cause is – are
a waste of time, money and trees. Forget printed press releases as well, said 
Nowlan. Make a phone call.

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