Media

Media Campaign: Remembering Dr. Howard Jones, father of in vitro fertilization in the United States

Crisis communication/Experience as spokesperson

Content marketing as media strategy: Teen vaping

Additional spokesperson/media clips

Fiscal year media summaries 

 

Media Campaign: Remembering Dr. Howard Jones, father of in vitro fertilization in the United States

How do you ensure a medical pioneer’s life is appropriately celebrated by the media after his death? Our conclusion at EVMS: Extensive preparation and a digital delivery method for collected information and original content. The father of in vitro fertilization in the U.S., Dr. Howard Jones, had reached his 104th birthday. Clearly, there were no guarantees of future celebrations. Thus, began months of interviews and information gathering. And when the sad day arrived, we provided a wealth of support to media within an hour of his death while still delivering original content to our target audiences and staffing school ceremonies.

  • Overview: Outlines background, research, planning, execution & evaluation (PDF)
  • Media monitoring report (PDF): Our efforts impacted 55 percent of overall media stories around Dr. Jones’ death reaching nearly 85 percent of all viewers seeing the coverage.
  • Additional metrics (PDF)
  • EVMS press release/story
  • Public web page: Targeted at internal and external audiences, this page provided an opportunity to relay original content directly. These resources also were made available to journalists and media outlets.
  • Media web page: Aimed specifically at media outlets, this page provide links to raw b-roll and interview footage as well as images usable by journalists in crafting their own stories. Note: This page was narrowly targeted at journalists. We recorded 30 pages views from 15 unique visitors with an average time on page of 7 minutes. This was an excellent result given we have only 3 local network TV stations and 2 regional newspapers. This URL was not released to the public.
  • Use of EVMS-produced content: One of our goals was to have external media use EVMS-developed content. With shrinking newsrooms, it is increasingly difficult to secure coverage. While we hoped that journalists would take advantage of the b-roll and other resources provided to craft stories, we were thrilled that multiple outlets used EVMS-produced video packages. This is not typical for a market and speaks to the success of our efforts as well as the quality of the content we provided. Our regional newspaper embedded one video package in their coverage of a campus memorial service held in August. Two local TV stations embedded EVMS video and images in lieu of creating their own packages.
  • Sample media stories (EVMS-sourced information is highlighted)
    • Associated Press story: The AP reporter relied heavily on resources provided by EVMS. This resulted in key messages and quotes being carried by a variety of media outlets across the country. (PDF)
    • CBS news (PDF)
    • USA Today (PDF)
  • EVMS Digital Magazine feature story (includes interactive timeline)

 

Crisis communication/Experience as spokesperson

I served as primary spokesperson for the Norfolk Public Schools district and directed crisis communications working regularly with both print and broadcast media. That experience has continued in my tenure with Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Being an effective spokesperson relies on preparation, an understanding of the core business, an ability to think quickly and an ability to clearly articulate ideas. A strong understanding of the state Freedom of Information Act and various federal laws (such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) allows me to serve in the spokesperson role as well as prepare others to comment publicly. I have developed talking points, coached senior leaders in advance of key interviews and led formal media training for administrators and board members from multiple states.

As an example, I utilized these media interaction skills during a guest appearance on a public radio broadcast of HereSay with Cathy Lewis — a live, hour-long public affairs program on WHRV. This program featured discussion of a Johns Hopkins report on dropout rates. Norfolk Public Schools had been featured unfavorably in the report. You can listen to the the introduction and main dropout story only by playing a QuickTime clip (my interview portion begins at 14 minutes and 37 seconds into the program).

Perhaps the most important role I play is that of adviser to senior leaders helping to facilitate a better understanding of when to proactively provide information, how and when (within the confines of legal requirements) to deny information requests or participation in a media interview, and how to better prepare for media encounters.

 

Content marketing as media strategy: Teen vaping 

In a time of shrinking newsrooms and attitudes of “if it bleeds, it leads,” it has become increasingly difficult to place stories in traditional media. One strategy for overcoming this challenge is implementing a robust content management (or brand  journalism) effort — creating your own news and feature stories and delivering them via your own analog and digital channels. In essence, you create your own newsroom.

While this strategy allows you to send messages directly to your audiences, content marketing also can help your pitch to traditional media. Generating your own content demonstrates the viability of the story, how well your sources interview (in print and on camera) and the quality of support images and video you have available.

EVMS used this strategy to share the news about a new grant and research being conducted by our scientists about the risks of teen vaping (e-cigarette use). We created print and digital feature stories, video packages and PSAs. We then used this original content to successfully pitch a local TV news outlet who subsequently ran a story of their own during February 2016 “sweeps.”

 

Additional spokesperson/media clips (direct quotes and quotes from speakers I prepared for interviews are highlighted)

 

Fiscal year media summaries 

Fiscal Year 2014: EVMS was mentioned more than 2,000 times in various news reports, broadcasts, and blogs. National coverage included reports on/in Time Magazine, Allure Magazine, Washington Business Journal, Chicago Tribune, International Business Times, ABCNews.com and Yahoo! Health. According to media monitoring reports these mentions equate to a potential reach of 1.92 billion unique viewers.

Fiscal Year 2015: EVMS was mentioned more than 1,800 times in various news reports, broadcasts, and blogs. National coverage included reports on/in New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, US News & World Reports, Boston Globe, Women’s Health Magazine, CBN, Bloomberg.com and Yahoo! Health. According to media monitoring reports these mentions equate to a potential reach of 3.02 billion unique viewers.