Re: [seul-edu] A plea for more media contacts

[SteelHead <bill@ries-knight.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "William Abernathy" <william@inch.com>
To: <seul-edu@seul.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2002 2:45 PM
Subject: [seul-edu] A plea for more media contacts


| If you want Schoolforge's launch to succeed, you need to
take a moment to help
| out. We're preparing a press release for our launch, which
fast approaches.
| However, most of the names on our media list are in the
Linux/open source media
| world. This might be fine if we were only launching an
open source project, but
| we're doing more than that: we're trying to attract
mainstream *and* educational
| press attention.
|

I tried something with a couple of the Knight Ridder and Mc
Clatchty newspapers.

I sent out the following message and got responses like ones
i copied indicating the right "persons to contact" for our
issue I spent a bit of time looking at the online site for
the papers and t bcc'e the message to anyone that *might*
know whom to contact with a press release.  I got no bad or
angry replies whatsoever.

Sample message:

Pardon the intrusion,
I am  looking for  a staffer with McClatchy News that
specializes in reporting on education and technology.  We
have a press release coming out soon and would like to get
it to the best individuals first time out.

sample replies :

I would try Erik Lords at lords@freepress.com.
*************
Re your press release, please post it to the attention of
Erik Olvera
(eolvera@fresnobee.com) and his editor, Kathy Mahan
(kmahan@fresnobee.com).
************
Suzanne Pardington covers k-12 education and she's at
spardington@cctimes.com and I cover higher education -
csturrock@cctimes.com.

I suggest we all just kinda go for it!  Genltly mass mail
local and large regional papers journals etc... and find who
they suggest we send the release to!


| Those of you who are teachers will subscribe to a few
educational journals and
| newsletters. Please take a moment to dust off your most
reecent issues, and look
| for contact information, especially email addresses.
Forward that information to
| me or to Doug or Les for inclusion in our media database.
We need to know, at a
| minimum: Contact name (if you have one), Publication name
(or simply
| "journalist" if your contact is an independent writer you
want us to reach) and
| email address. Additional information (address, phone
number, fax) is also much
| appreciated.
|
| Also, take a look at your local or national newspaper or
magazine. Look for
| Education Editors, Technology Editors, or the like. The
more we can reach, the
| more likely we will be to gain a critical mass of new
volunteers and interested
|   teachers and administrators.
|
| Thanks for your time and energy!
|
| --William
|
Regards,
Bill Ries-Knight
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 cases of canned spam every day.
That's all we ask from each sysadmin.
(Oh, and don't forget the site the spam is for!)