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PCC Luncheon - Prescription for Success: Discovering Angles for Health Care News

By Yvonne Zusel

In a world where coffee is good for you one day and terrible the next, and where every pharmaceutical company claims to have a cure for the latest illness, it’s hard to separate health fact from fiction.

That’s why journalists who cover health at top media outlets are always striving to provide their viewers or readers with the most accurate information possible. Kaarin Tisue, associate metro editor at the Chicago Tribune; Bob Ray, the health unit producer for WMAQ-TV; and Katharin Czink, the producer of WGN-TV’s Medical Watch are always on the lookout for story ideas that cut through the “noise,” as Tisue called it, and get to the heart of the issues.

The three offered advice on doing just that at a recent luncheon sponsored by the Publicity Club of Chicago. 

They all agreed that there are primary things they look for when deciding whether to do a story, including how many people a story will affect, if it has a human-interest element, if it’s timely and if it can be easily localized.

While stories that affect the majority of the population will likely be tackled first, Czink said human-interest stories with “wow factor and high emotion” are very appealing, even if they don’t necessarily apply to most viewers. She referenced a story about a double lung transplant where doctors had to travel to Buffalo, N.Y. for the lungs then rush back through a snowstorm to perform the surgery.

Ray called this the “gee whiz factor,” and said he wants stories that “make people sit up and listen to you.”

Tisue said while her reporters are “aiming for the front page” and are always looking for significant trends, they are also careful not to “whiplash” their readers by providing them with conflicting reports from week to week.

“We’re looking for news with staying power and news that impacts readers’ lives in a direct way,” she said.

While all three said consumer surveys and polls can be used as a “starting point,” according to Czink, they agreed that surveys and polls alone do not a story make. Public relations professionals who pitch surveys should have an angle for turning a survey into a larger story. Ray said he considers surveys the “weakest form of research,” but might use one as a “leaping off point.”

On the same note, studies and clinical trials are always examined with a discriminating eye before it is determined whether or not they’ll be used for a story.

Tisue used the example of a recent study on whether pregnant women should be drinking coffee. While it was only one study, she said because it would be of interest to such a large number of people and because it was a credible study, she had a reporter follow through on it.

Czink said while exclusivity is important in a pitch, she’d rather provide viewers a service in presenting medical news that affects them even if it was already reported elsewhere. Tisue said having exclusivity is less important than “having the story, period.”

Making the Pitch

Ray said public relations professionals who take the time to build a relationship with him and “deliver the goods” are going to be the ones he trusts. But, “That takes time,” he said. Those who haven’t developed a rapport with him “have to rely more on knowing the story,” including being ready with statistics, research, patients and experts if he needs them.

“If you have your T’s crossed and your I’s dotted, I’ll be more inclined to do business with you,” he said. And the easiest way to impress him is to send a hard copy of a press release if time allows.

Tisue said public relations professionals should know the section and what kind of stories her reporters would normally cover.

“If you show a general understanding of what it is we do and offer something that fits in with what you do, you’ll be our friends,” she said. She said it is hard to catch her by phone and that she prefers being contacted by e-mail. But, she said, the most effective way to pitch is to target specific reporters who cover the beat most relevant to a pitch.

Czink said she likes to “have something in her hand” that she can review before she is called, and she prefers to receive information by e-mail.