Recently, I attended a PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Media Breakfast, where healthcare public relations professionals in the Los Angeles area “skipped out” of the daily office grind to meet with a panel of healthcare reporters and producers from both print and broadcast media: Los Angeles Daily News, KNBC-TV Channel 4 and California Broker.

For 90 minutes, the PR professionals in the room sat with pens (and Blackberries) poised to hear these healthcare journalists answer the million dollar questions: what types of healthcare stories are they looking for? How do they decide what healthcare issues take priority during an epidemic of national healthcare coverage?

So what did we find out?

To everyone’s surprise, the entire panel agreed on one subject: no more healthcare reform and universal coverage stories. These topics are over-exposed; people just want something to be done about them – now. Instead, the panel wanted to hear about what people and/or companies are doing to prepare for healthcare reform and how businesses plan to survive in the new environment.

So what gets these journalists’ attention?

Here is the magic formula:

    1. Universal impact. The story MUST impact the public. It can’t just affect a small exclusive group. Instead, the issue or trend must apply to a broad segment of the population, and ideally – to everyone.

 

    1. Promotes action. Readers not only learn about an issue but they can immediately put this information to use in their lives.

 

    1. A complete story package. Stories need to have the full “package” where every pitch and news release should pertain to each publication’s target audience. And it must, of course, be newsworthy and timely, including trends, statistics and the human element.

 

    Do your research. Make sure the reporter is still covering healthcare and find out what types of healthcare stories they cover.

What changes in the media can PR professionals foresee in the next few years?

It is even more important now for PR professionals to recognize how the economy, the growing healthcare issues and the many potential budget proposals for healthcare reform are reflecting the type of news journalists choose to cover. Healthcare reporters are scrambling to cover stories on short deadlines as well as report on several different beats not associated with healthcare. This will only get worse with the growing number of cutbacks on staff in newsrooms. More than ever before, media outlets are depending on more “wire” stories and less original reporting.

Consequently, PR staff need to do their research to confirm which reporters are still writing on healthcare. Second, in order to stand out to journalists, it is beneficial to create a relationship. Find out what reporters cover and what they’re currently writing about, and offer information and access that will help them. Finally, there are more opportunities at understaffed newsrooms, especially at magazines, to contribute content such as company and/or expert authored articles.

Visit us at Scott Public Relations for additional insight on related topics.