Media Response - Take initiative

["Robert Gunter" <rjgunter@icnpharm.com>]

Greetings all,

My wife is currently the Publicity Director for a local conference on an
unrelated subject, but her experience has rubbed off on me a bit.  If the Health
Physics community wants to get it's message across regarding the health effects
of radiation exposure, we should seriously consider a publicity strategy.  I am
not talking about full page ads in the NY Times, rather a bit of grunt work.

Each interested Chapter and the HPS National Officers should identify all the
media outlets in their region and make contact with their news departments and
specifically those individuals who would handle a relevant story.  The people
assigned to a certain desk change frequently, especially in local papers, so
follow up is required.  A list of people who can speak to the issues at hand
could be provided, such as the Officers of the Chapter or National HPS or others
(depending on the type of story).  When breaking news hits, they would have an
easy reference to knowledgeable people in our society.

Notice how fast a lot of organizations respond.  This is due to their prior
planning.  Of course most of the groups we hear from have a different agenda and
often have low budgets.  News media provide a FREE outlet for their message.

Maybe we are already doing this?

Rob Gunter



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