To engage the media in a story, the Communications team aims to present it in a concise, clear way that will make a journalist immediately understand the subject and want to cover it, while remaining accurate and true to the research or piece of work.
We have several ways of getting our stories into the wider world through the media. Often, we will send a press release. These can be written to appeal to a broad audience – for national press, for example – and distributed widely. Or they can be written with a more specialist audience in mind, and targeted at the trade press.
A press release may coincide with a paper being published in a journal, and will provide an overview of the research explaining the key points and giving context to the study. Some journals have press teams and will promote the paper themselves, while others do not. Either way, the Communications team can work with the journal to coordinate the release, working to the paper’s publication date and releasing under an embargo if necessary.
If we think the story would be better served by offering an exclusive to a journalist, then we may do an individual pitch instead of a press release. Journalists always prefer to have an exclusive, and it may result in a more in-depth feature than by simply issuing a general press release. Plus, if the story is strong, other media outlets may pick up on it too.
Talking to journalists
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It may be that a journalist will want to follow up on our initial contact by talking to the lead researcher of a paper to gather more information. This means you may have to speak to them directly by phone or in person. It is, therefore, important to be available around the time the press release or pitch is sent out. The Communications team will keep you informed about timing.
Often, we receive calls from journalists wanting to speak to an expert on a subject that has arisen in the day’s news. This can be a great opportunity to have your voice heard, improving your own reputation and that of the University, and helping the world understand more about your own field of study.
Talking to the press does not come naturally to everyone, but it doesn’t have to be an intimidating experience. Many people find they really enjoy it.
We can offer informal advice about talking to the media, and can discuss anything that is likely to come up during an interview. We can also run through a mock interview to prepare you for a particular interview situation.
You may like a formal media training session, to fully prepare you for working with press throughout your career, and we can arrange training with an experienced media professional.
If your expertise is relevant to a topical subject, we can proactively offer your expert comment or analysis to reporters covering the story. We can send a quote from you to a journalist, or arrange for you to be interviewed. Additionally, we can pitch comment pieces and write letters to newspapers. These are all good ways of keeping maintaining media engagement even when we are not necessarily directly involved with the story. It can also build links with the press, so they are more likely to come to us for comment in future.
Representing St George’s
When you are talking to the press, you are almost always doing so as an individual voice of expertise, rather than as the voice of the institution. We encourage you to use your St George's title and the institution's name. Please refer to the institution as 'St George's, University of London'.
Please also remember that while you are representing the institution, you should not be drawn on the University’s policies or stance on an issue. Such statements should only come from a spokesperson on the issue in question. So, if a journalist asks you to give the University’s position on something, please refer them to the Communications team and we can take it from there.