Jason Salzman - Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits

xiii

... 254

IF YOU ARE AN ACTIVIST or nonprofit professional, this book is dedicated to you. You probably deserve more recognition than you get. But here's the catch: Now that you've got a media book dedicated to you, you are obliged to make media relations more of a priority in your work.

I'd also like to dedicate Making the News to my wife, Anne, and my parents, Manny and Joanne.

My colleagues at Rocky Mountain Media Watch, including Andy Bardwell, John Boak, Barb Donachy, the late Paul Klite, Tory Read, and Kate Reinisch, helped get the book off the ground. We share the belief that if journalists are going to do a good job, they need to hear from citizens with story ideas. Without Aaron Toso's assistance, writing this second edition would have been much less fun and more time consuming. Thanks to former librarian Jane Button, who ably read the manuscript for typos even though she thought the guerrilla tactics described in the book are "underhanded and sneaky, offensive and obnoxious, destructive and irresponsible, and dirty and costly."

Leo Wiegman, my first editor at Westview Press, accepted my manuscript after my file of rejection letters was bulging. I am thankful to both Leo and my current Westview editor, Steve Catalano, for their help.

Thanks to all the journalists who let me interview them for this book. Not only did most journalists I called readily accept my request for an interview but they wanted to do it immediately-so as not to drag out the distraction from their work. Writing this book reminded me again how many committed, conscientious people work for news organizations. But it also brought to light the difficult conditions most journalists face at their jobs, particularly as staffs shrink and ownership of major news outlets is concentrated in the hands of a smaller and smaller number of large corporations.

I would also like to thank these nonprofit professionals and activists: Nadine Bloch, Robert Bray, Twilly Cannon, John Carr, Tom Clements, Ben Cohen, Gary Ferdman, Art Goodtimes, Andrew Greenblatt, Claire Greensfelder, David Grinspoon, Don Hancock, Peggy Huppert, David Lewis, Rich Male, Bob McFarland, Jack Mento, Chris Miller, Damon Moglen, LeRoy Moore, Duane Peterson, Jan Pilcher, Tom Rauch, Dan Reicher, Doug Richardson, Mike Roselle, Jacob Scherr, Mag and Ken Seaman, George Seidel, John Sellers, Shannon Service, Jack Shanahan, Richard Steckel, Mark Stevens, Susan Stroud, Chet Tchozewski, Bill Walker, Bill Walsh, Ralph Walsh, Harold Ward, Harvey Wasserman, and Robin Weingarten.

Finally, thanks to my son, Dylan, who never stops. And my daughter, Nell, who never sleeps.

Jason Salzman Denver, Colorado

P.S. E-mail ideas or feedback to jason@causecommunications.com.

IF YOU'RE LIKE MOST ACTIVISTS or nonprofit staffers, you've got a good cause but your media program-if you've got one-is a classic snoozer, lacking the imagery, humor, conflict, and celebrity appeal that make news.

Would you dress in a pink ostrich costume and tell politicians to get their heads out of the sand? Or, if you were kicked out of a mall for breast-feeding, would you fight back and stage a "breast-feed-in" with forty nursing moms-and the media-in tow?

Even if you advocated vegetarianism, would you ever lob a letter to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh asking him to choose a meatless meal as his last supper prior to his executiona move that generated major media attention?

You probably wouldn't, but this is exactly how you need to start thinking to upgrade your media profile.