Poorly written newspiece on the Society for Preservation of Carter Brothers Resources operation at Ardenwood Park in Newark, Cal. Usual toy train references and usual use of "train fanatic" term. Better to write your own stuff than to rely on drippy human interest reporters who are there to find some trite things to say about you, with little interest in what you're actually doing.

http://www.theargusonline.com/Stories/0,1413,83~1971~1604497,00.html
ryarger@rypn.org

Its not very well written, but 1) the paper in question had a press release from us and 2) they are a newspaper, not a just a news-release printing service. In addition to this piece, they had an article two days before (more history oriented, but no better written,) and a listing in their weekend events column.

Locally there is a phrase, "the curse of the Argus" for this paper's articles, and particularly creative spelling of participants names. Recently they have been spelling the names right.

On the other hand, we had a 30% increase in attendance on the day following the article.

Randy Hees
SPCRR



hees@ix.netcom.com

> Usual toy train references and usual use of
> "train fanatic" term. Better to
> write your own stuff than to rely on drippy
> human interest reporters who are there to
> find some trite things to say about you,
> with little interest in what you're actually
> doing.

Well Bob, a good point, but one can't always tell a reporter or editor what to print. Perhaps a better way might be to explain to your volunteers that such statements make them and the organization look like morons. Get members to be a bit more professional in their comments to the media, and remind them that ANYTHING they say can (and usually will) wind up in print. And its best to keep those "windy" types away from the reporters.

Another example is the newspaper article in Flimsies about railfanning in MA. The article states that one train had 80 "engines", and another had 120. Not even the Baldwin Prosperity Special had that many "engines"!

It's not what they've heard of you. It's THAT they've heard of you.
Get your name and address in print anytime you can.

wyld@sbcglobal.net

> Well Bob, a good point, but one can't always
> tell a reporter or editor what to print.
> Perhaps a better way might be to explain to
> your volunteers that such statements make
> them and the organization look like morons.
> Get members to be a bit more professional in
> their comments to the media, and remind them
> that ANYTHING they say can (and usually
> will) wind up in print. And its best to keep
> those "windy" types away from the
> reporters.

I can say this because I work for a local newspaper...

Reporters seldom know much about the story they're covering. This is especially true about stories other than the routine stories like deaths, trials, robberies, etc. In a way, that's good because they're able to explain it in terms John Q. Public will understand. OTOH it's bad if you're not good at explaining things to the reporter.

I've learned a few things about dealing with reporters from other news agencies at SCRM. First, keep the jargon and slang to a minimum. Any terms a non-railfan isn't likely to understand or is likely to misunderstand (such as "reefer") should be avoided or explained.

I recently had to do a story where I was totally out of my element. It was on a program in our local school district that encourages middle school girls to get involved with Science. I'm pretty sure that I butchered the terminology and facts of that particular story. Of course, the stories I slip in the paper as often as I can get away with about SCRM are painfully accurate to the last detail.

Most reporters try hard to get the facts correct and write a good story. When dealing with the news media, you have to remember a few facts:

1. Not all reporters are good writers. In fact, it's actually kind of rare to find a reporter who's really good.

2. "AP Style" writing isn't like novel writing or the writing you learned in high school English. I've wanted to "correct" a number of things in my co-workers' stories and have been told that there's nothing wrong with what was written.

3. Most reporters know nothing about railroads and have little interest in them. Therefore, explain everything and keep the terminology simple.

4. "Feel good" stories don't sell papers. Most papers print stuff like that so we don't look like vultures after only the bad news.

Finally, there's a famous quote fom somebody whose name I can't remember:

"I don't care what you say about me as long as you spell my name right."

The South Carolina Railroad Museum
mconrad@compuzone.net

> Finally, there's a famous quote fom somebody
> whose name I can't remember:

> "I don't care what you say about me as
> long as you spell my name right."

Not that it matters... that old railfan, George M. Cohan.

wyld@sbcglobal.net