Smart Arts - Creative New Zealand

5The mediaThis chapter discusses putting together your media strategy; how to write,send and “sell” the release; the value of a good photo; interviewtechniques; and what to do when you get negative press. It also looks atworking with Mäori, Pacific and other specialist media.NOTHING’SFORFREEMedia coverage is not freepromotion: you have to puta lot of time and effortinto an effective mediacampaign.The media include newspaper and magazine journalists, radio presenters and televisionreporters. By gaining an understanding of how the media work, you should be able tomake the media work well for you.One advantage of a feature article over advertising is that it is seen by the reader as objectiveand therefore more believable than advertising. It also provides more information and humaninterest than a poster or an advertisement. However, one disadvantage is that you have littlecontrol over what the reporter writes and you may not be happy with what appears in print.In 1997-1998, Creative New Zealand conducted a survey of arts participation byNew Zealand adults. One of the survey questions asked people to indicate the three mainways they found out about “local arts activities”. The three main sources of informationwere community newspapers, major daily newspapers and the radio. Word-of-mouth(friends and family) was also an important source of information.Creative New Zealand published the survey findings in two publications, Arts Every Day:mahi toi ia rä, which provides a general overview of all survey findings, and Know YourAudience: me möhio ki tö whakaminenga, which focuses on people who participated in thearts “as a member of an audience”, and analyses the findings by artform. Both publicationsare available in the Resources section of Creative New Zealand’s website(www.creativenz.govt.nz). Also check out Statistics New Zealand (www.stats.govt.nz) forlatest statistics on arts participation.5Media strategyBefore you start promoting an event you should put together a media strategy (see Sampletimeline, page 19), outlining how you intend to promote your event. This involves:• setting objectives of what you want your media strategy to achieve• setting targets in terms of the media coverage you want to secure, including what storieswhere and which angles you will offer to different media – keeping in mind that manyprefer exclusivesSmart arts | Toi huatau51