The Virtual Pressroom (or How to Get Your Press Secretary a Full Night’s Sleep)
There is another CNN effect besides forcing the President to answer questions about international crises before he gets his full intelligence briefing. It is the bags under your press secretaries’ eyes. Reporters calling all night for information crucial to the article they are writing. If only you could pre-empt most of those calls. Well you can, with a Virtual Pressroom.
A Virtual Pressroom is a media-facing website that provides a wide range of resources to the media for their coverage of your issue or candidate. It is a chance to cast these resources within the narrative you want to see in the press. It is a way to provide background for news stories, publishable photos and graphics, video clips, press contacts, and opportunities for setting up expert interviews—and make it available to the press 24/7, online. Mmmmmmmm, I am feeling better rested already.
A good Virtual Pressroom needs to be an authoritative website. While it may have a point of view, it should present well-evidenced information, opposing views, and opportunities to learn more—to dig deeper into the subject.
Then, let the press know about your site. Encourage them to visit it and drink in the information. Sure, they will still call you, but for fewer reasons and hopefully during business hours. And Virtual Pressrooms are a non-addictive prescription for sleeplessness.
For an example of a Virtual Pressroom, see www.clonesafety.org. Scan through the pages, explore the links, and see how quickly you will be able to write quality news stories on livestock cloning. And enjoy the pictures of cute cows, horses, pigs, and sheep.