What type of information can make news?

Not everything that happens inside a company is news. Not everything we think is relevant, is interesting for the public, or even interesting for the media. The analysis to understand why certain subject is newsworthy and others are not, requires previous knowledge about the routines of newsrooms.

In his book “Assessoria de Imprensa e Relacionamento com a Mídia”, Jorge Duarte says:

“The problem is that not always what comes out in the press is the most important from the point of view of the public’s interest. Often, what is interesting, even if unimportant, deserves more space than what is important, considered uninteresting “(DUARTE, Jorge, Assessoria de Imprensa e Relacionamento com a Mídia, 2nd edition, p. 107)

The prospect of the information of a company is closely linked to its strategic communication planning. And this, on the other hand, needs to be aware of the social and economic context in which the company operates. We must also be conscious and prepared for the consequences that certain information may have. Therefore, caution is needed when releasing growth data (sales, production, expansion, etc.), and attention to the socioeconomic context in which this news will be published.

This way, in another Duarte’s reference, we must always reflect on the “importance” and “interest” in the dissemination of news in the press.

“To comprehend the difference between interest and importance is the first step in order to understand the functioning of a newsroom” (DUARTE, Jorge, Assessoria de Imprensa e Relacionamento com a Mídia, 2nd edition, p. 107)

We also need to be prepared for the negative. One way to avoid that a particular subject gets lost, is to insert it into a “cold” context, in other words, to create a content with a prolonged “shelf life”. Therefore, it is possible to have a longer period of time for contacting the newsroom that may be interested in the material in question.

“We often hear from a journalist the following phrase: ‘it is an important subject, but there is no space in the newspaper for that’. In other words, it does not matter if the fact is only important, because it is essential that the subject is newsworthy, from the point of view of the interest of the newspaper” (DUARTE, Jorge, Assessoria de Imprensa e Relacionamento com a Mídia, 2nd edition, p. 114)

Another very important aspect when you send a piece of information is the assessment about the editorial line of the focused publications:

“Each newsroom from each publication keeps its own characteristics, which make it almost impossible a reality approach work” (DUARTE, Jorge, Assessoria de Imprensa e Relacionamento com a Mídia, 2nd edition, p. 119).

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