In the 1990's I ran a couple of successful community organizing campaigns. Our guerilla theater protests - and therefore our issue - were on TV, on the radio, and in the papers regularly. This coverage was crucial to our victories.* And crucial to obtaining this coverage was the excellent and low-cost media-training-for-nonprofits that I received courtesy of Chicago's Community Media Workshop (now Public Narrative).
Every nonprofit, whether it engages in organizing or not, needs to be able to advocate. And every nonprofit, therefore, needs someone on its staff or board with media skills.
So maybe by now you are wondering, Is there a media training that would be useful to people involved with Seattle-based nonprofits?
Indeed there is!
Press for the People (Saturday, June 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) is a day of workshops and conversation with folks from Crosscut, South Seattle Emerald, Low-Power FM radio (Brown Paper Tickets), The Seattle Globalist, KCTS 9, International Examiner, The Seattle Channel and Seattle Weekly. Participants will learn how to generate story ideas, identify and interview sources, navigate and pitch to local media, produce multi-media photo, audio, and video stories, connect with local editors, and more.
For more information, visit http://www.seattleglobalist.com/press-for-the-people-2016 or send your questions to christina@seattleglobalist.com.
* Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, we have social media now, and many people will wonder, Who needs reporters/press/media?
You do, that's who. Think about all the issue-based posts and calls-to-action that are shared with you and that you share with others - on social media: Many, perhaps the vast majority of the posts, were/are articles first published in a news publication.
Enough said.
