• Introduction
• Get Started
• Organizing
• Public Activities
  • Discussions
  • Speaker's Forum
  • Guest Meetings
  • Rallies
  • Media
  • Tabling
• Be the Media
• Public Spaces
• Posters, Flyers
• Displays
• Get Publicity
• Fundraising
• Tool Kit
• Contact Us
• Reading Room

Planning a Media Appearance

Suggested media appearances include:

Editorial staff meeting
Interview with local news reporter
TV talk show (local affiliate or cable TV)
Radio Talk or Issues show
Interview with local weekly newspaper publisher or reporter
Press Conference

Local radio and television interview shows should be researched and the most appropriate shows contacted by a leader of your group.
Call, write or e-mail the editor of your local newspaper asking for a private meeting appointment with the editorial board, or with a reporter who covers social justice issues. This can be an excellent way to ensure newspaper coverage for a public event that might take place before or after a private meeting.

You can use a news release in your correspondence if appropriate. Sample news releases are in the Organizers’ Appendix. Modify yours to suit the correspondence you, or a volunteer, will write.

Ask people in your group for the 'call letters' of the radio talk shows they listen to. Search the internet for 'talk radio' in your region. Listen to the show. Call, write or email the hosts, directing them to November.org website, and asking to book local guests on an upcoming show. You'll need to plan such an endeavor weeks, sometimes months, in advance.

Check cable TV and regular local TV shows. Again, ask people in your network to suggest possibilities, and contact the hosts.

Weekly newspapers featuring articles of interest are also publications you should call to request a special interview.

If you are able to make arrangements for a media appearance or interview, then you, or someone in your group, must be responsible for submitting written material concerning a guest's qualifications and subjects of discussion to the show's host.

It's often true that 'out-of-town' special guests being available becomes newsworthy and legitimate reporting. If you can find an out of town 'expert' to speak in your community, you are likely to get more media interest.

Biographical information about public speakers is available. Use this information to create biographies of your local leaders, and we can link your local events to local leaders' biographies, too!

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