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How
to Fight the Super DMCA...
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Understanding the Legislative Process Building an Effective Anti-SDMCA Coalition |
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Working with the MediaThe progress (or lack of progress) of the SDMCA through the state legislature is potentially newsworth, and it's important to get the story out through both electronic and traditional media. Don't be a spammerThe least effective thing that you can when seeking coverage of an issue like this is to issue a one-size-fits-all "press release" and send it to a long list of media contacts. Reporters get dozens, if not hundreds of these things a day, and you'll just be adding to the background noise. The goal is to get stories written, not to slightly inform and mildly annoy as many reporters as possible. Identify likely reporters and their beatsEarly in the process, try to identify reporters for state and national publications who cover either technology and state legislative issues. It's usually quite straightforward to get their contact information through their publication. Most major newspapers have at least one technology columnist -- read back issues and see if there is someone who has written about technology policy issues. Similarly, most major newspapers have one or more reporters who cover the state legislature. Note, however, that these are almost certainly not the same people. Start with the story in mindFor each reporter who might cover the your latest development, think about how you might write the story to make it appeal to the publication's audience. How is this story similar to, or different from other stories that this person has covered before? When you make contact, customize your approach to make it clear that you're not writing from a template or reading from a script. Explicitly relate the recent development to past stories that your contact or his publication have covered in the past. Explain why the story would be interesting to the publication's audience. Have your quotes in mindWhenever you're preparing to talk to a journalist, write out two or three quotes that make sense that journalist's story about the latest developments. Keep them short and clear. Don't passively wait to be asked just the right question before producing these quotes. Be responsive -- nobody likes it when you completely fail to answer their question -- but look for opportunities to get your message out even if the exact question isn't asked. When being interviewed for a print or online publication, there is nothing wrong with pausing to collect your thoughts after listening to the question. Use this time to form complete, clear sentences in your mind before speaking. Be responsiveReporters can get fantastically busy, and are frequently writing to very tight deadlines. You will greatly increase your chances of being quoted and getting your message out if you return their calls quickly. If you have to put them off, make sure you find out what their deadline is, and work with them to meet that deadline.
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