Media engagement is one aspect of external engagement which academics may encounter in their careers. When starting out, this can be a volatile environment to navigate, but in time can be a useful enrichment to the more traditional aspects of the academic role. In my career so far, I have experienced a variety of different forms of media engagement. These have included:
· Expert comments for stand-alone news pieces (email and phone responses to questions)
· Radio interviews (both live and pre-recorded)
· Live TV interviews
· Pre-recorded video content for campaigns
Having been quite heavily involved in media engagement over the last few years, I reflected that I had largely navigated this arena with little formal training or guidance. I have developed the following “Top Tips” as a resource to hopefully support colleagues who may find themselves in a similar position.
1. Pace
The first thing to be aware of is that the media typically works at a much faster pace than academia! Often a request will seek a response within a day or so, particularly if this is for a current news item which will be going to print very quickly. This won’t always be the case for media work such as for campaigns which are being developed over a longer time period, but be aware that prompt responses are greatly appreciated by journalists!
2. Accountability
Remember that whenever you are in the media, you are not just representing yourself, but also your institution and any professional bodies you may be a member of. Therefore, keep all these hats intact when choosing what to comment on and how you respond to any requests
3. It’s ok to say no
There will be times when you are not able to respond to requests. This may be because of short time-frames (as per #1) but may also be because the issue is outside your area of expertise or competence. It is greatly important that you are both comfortable and competent in meeting requests, especially if this is in the code of conduct of a professional body you may represent. For example, the British Psychological Society includes in its Code of Ethics and Conduct (2018) specific statements relating to competence.
4. Cover yourself
I’m not necessarily talking about clothing here, but more in relation to ensuring your comments are fully recoverable. It is not unheard of that people’s comments are misquoted or irresponsibly taken out of context, and therefore is paramount that you have your own record of your comments. This may even involve making your own audio recording of any phone, radio or TV interviews.
5. Follow your morals
There may be certain media organisations and news sources which you feel are not responsible when reporting the news. In these cases, don’t feel obliged to respond to requests which originate from these if they go against your morals and good standards of journalism. In my case, there are a handful of newspapers I refuse to engage with (I won’t name and shame here…)
6. Create a network
I talk a lot about Twitter and how beneficial it can be, and here is no exception. I use Twitter as a platform to connect with journalists I have worked with, and often post about my recent work on this platform, thereby increasing the likelihood it may get disseminated further through these contacts. Interesting, Twitter is often the first place many will reach out to me (usually via Direct Message) with initial requests or permission to contact me more formally via email)
7. Develop working partnerships
Following on from #6, creating networks also helps support subsequent collaboration with my contacts. For example, there are a number of great journalists who have come back to me on multiple occasions for pieces they have been working on. Twitter is a great way of maintaining familiarity with others, and also allows myself and my contacts to keep up-dated on our current work where we can look for mutual ways of supporting each other. Requests don’t always have to work one way either. There have been times when I have had topical work which has the public as a beneficiary and would benefit from being disseminated via the media. I used my connections to make contact with a journalist with some insights from my work, and they took on a news piece designed around disseminating this.
8. Make friends with your Press Office
Press Teams/Offices have a wealth of relevant contacts, know how to write in a user-friendly way, and can help develop press releases to ensure your work reaches the right places. I have been lucky that my university has a very talented and proactive Press Team. In the past they have picked up on my work I have shared via Twitter, and proactively contacted me to recommend we develop some press material.
9. Consultation
There may be times when you are asked for consultation and negotiate a fee for your work. This is classed as consultation and you should be careful about how to proceed on this. Academics typically can operate consultation as “University consultation” or as “Private consultation”. If you have been contacted through your university email address, then arguably you should classify this as “University consultation” as you have used the university resources/reputation within the process. “Private Consultation” would entail you operating entirely independent from the university and its branding, resources etc where you would be liable for payment of income tax and so on. Either way, it would usually be wise to make your university aware as soon as possible about this, to ensure you are not liable for embezzlement of funds.
10. Impact
Media engagement can be especially useful if the public is a beneficiary of your work and you are seeking mechanisms of “impact”. Journalists are especially good at supporting this in a number of ways:
· They are trained to write in an engaging and user-friendly way
· They have excellent mechanisms for dissemination across different platforms (newspapers, online reports, social media etc)
· They may be able to provide you with evidence of “reach” of impact through number of “Reads”, “Views”, “Hits”, “Shares”, “Likes” and so on.
These are my “Top Tips” but I also have some concluding thoughts on what I have found to make good journalists:
· Will take time to speak with you to get your insights first-hand, and not just reshare content from another news source
· Will have researched the topic before contacting you, so won't be fully relying on you to tell them all the answers
· Will ask meaningful questions and won’t waste your time
· Will be open-minded to your insights, and use them to shape their work, rather than simply seeking your opinions to confirm their own agenda