I’m probably a day late with this. Or a month.
All the jizz about to what extend social media would influence votes at the General Election made me think that not enough PRs think about how conventional journalists approach covering an election. Of course they’ll cover it, but typically PRs take the fairly simplistic approach of weaseling a message into newsdesks in the hope that ‘it’ll get picked up somewhere’.
A better approach, I reckon, is to understand some of the old-as-the-hills ground rules for how UK journalists, print and broadcast, cover elections. So here are the 10 Commandments of election journalism:
1. Balance: legally, you have to give a fair shout of column inches and airtime to the parties in the running. Obvious point, but it impacts how the papers and bulletins will be filled before the polls open. Let’s move on.
2. The candidates in pictures: there’s finite scope for writing words about them while keeping the product (e.g. the newspaper) appealing. So you need to get snaps of them in newsworthy positions, if you will. For PRs, this means less opportunity than usual for other picture stories, as a general rule.
3. Memory lane: a handy tactic for writing about elections generally without repeating the same old points about the current one is to rake up stuff on elections past. Older people, who typically buy more papers than younger people, like this. It’s a nostalgia trip. Smart PRs could get into stories by turning back the clock, or coming up with yesteryear-linked story ideas.
4. Extreme voters: the first thing a news editor will say to reporters on any local paper a week before an election is ‘find me the youngest voter and the oldest one’. A bit like the first baby born on New Year’s Day story, but less interesting. Saying that, I did once interview a 103-year-old who dragged himself away from making things with unused matchsticks to shuffle to the polls by zimmerframe. That’s the spirit.
5. Polling station porn: pictures of what polling stations look like. Most look like village halls with big signs in front saying Polling Station, but for some reason the media goes mad for this. There’s always one constituency where the polling station is a caravan. Arf arf. No PR opps here mind. Unless you make caravans perhaps. Although if you have premises near a key polling station, consider something in the streets outside (product giveaways, for instance) as they may get onto telly in those murky hours after the polls close.
6. Hotspots of potential change: national media will always scrutinise the key marginals and the areas where shocks may lurk. They will send in the troops to interview locals on the streets. They will do the ‘I went out of London for the day to talk to these people’ thing. Ample opportunities here for PR is you work out where these places are and either provide relevant information that helps your cause or, if relevant, field someone to talk. Example: your crisp brand is a big employer in a key marginal area. Call press well in advance of their inevitable visit, invite them onto the factory floor to film and field the MD to talk about how times have changes around here, as have our range of now lower-fat snacks. You know what I mean.
7. The skills angle: every section of the paper wants to get in on the election action. The careers pages are no exception. The ‘why do people want to be an MP?’ feature is a dead cert. And a field day for people-based businesses, consultancies, recruiters and major employers to get a bit of corporate spotlight.
8. The count. They may look excited (always wondered how hacks stay up all the way through election night? Perhaps the sheer adrenaline) but journalists who’ve done it before know that the count is the most boring part of the election to cover, yet their job is to make it look and sound exciting. All they can say, beyond speculation, is “they’re still counting the votes here”. Call in with any snippets at this point, it is journalism at its weakest point editorially.
9. ‘Makers of ballot boxes for 200 years’: as the big day approaches, the politics have largely got extremely repetitive and journalists look for those softer stories. And, pretty much, any old shit goes. Does your brand supply thousands of paperclips to polling stations the length and breadth of East Anglia? Get in on the action.
10. The what if story: as exemplified this time around by the what if there’s a hung Parliament story. This is pure media speculation of course, and needs views and opinions from as many people as possible in order to reinforce it. Field spokespeople proactively and you stand a fair chance of airtime.
There are probably more, but you’ve probably heard enough about elections recently.
