Local media contacts
Radio and Television
- ITV Anglia - (anglianews@itv.com)
- BBC Radio Cambridgeshire - (cambs@bbc.co.uk)
- BBC Radio Norfolk - (norfolknews@bbc.co.uk)
- BBC TV Look East - (look.east@bbc.co.uk)
- Heart FM - Cambridge
- Heart FM - Norwich
- Star 107 Radio - "Got a Story"
- Huntingdon Community Radio - (studio@hcrfm.co.uk)
Local Newspapers
- Bury Free Press - (news@buryfreepress.co.uk)
- Cambridge Independent - (newsdesk@iliffemedia.co.uk)
- Cambridgeshire Live and Cambridge News - (newsdesk@cambridge-news.co.uk)
- Cambs Times
- East Anglian Daily Times - (suffolkeditors@archant.co.uk)
- Eastern Daily Press - (NewsDesk@archant.co.uk)
- Ely Standard - (NewsDesk@archant.co.uk)
- Fenland Citizen
- The Hunts Post
- Lynn News - (newsdesk@lynnnews.co.uk)
- Suffolk News - (suffolk@iliffepublishing.co.uk)
- Peterborough Telegraph - (news@peterboroughtoday.co.uk)
- Royston Crow
- Wisbech Standard - (NewsDesk@archant.co.uk)
Writing a press release
Tips for drafting a press release
Before you begin to write a press release, think of the intended audience. Ask yourself who you are writing for and plan to write something in a style appropriate to that audience.
The ingredients of a 'good' news story
- The essential element of a story is that it's new
- People tend to like to read about unusual events
- Try to keep it free from strong personal opinion
- A news story should be concise
- Include a quote, this often helps bring a news piece to life.
What makes a story interesting?
- Impact or broad appeal: events that affect many people - the more people, the better the story. For instance, a proposed income tax increase may, at first sight, seem boring; but it has impact, because it will affect many people.
- Timeliness: news gets out of date quickly. One news outlet, such as the BBC news channel may regard news as being long past if it's a few days after the event, another news outlet such as a parish magazine may not regard news as being old even if it happened weeks in the past.
- Prominence: stories involving well known places, companies, groups or people will tend to do better.
- Proximity or closeness to home: events occurring in the newspaper circulation area or the broadcast area are likely to be of most interest.
- Bizarre or out-of-the-ordinary: unusual events that don't happen every day will generally be more interesting to the readers.
- The current "flavour of the month": events and situations that are currently in the news will harness more support. So, if your church is supporting a national event that's already in the news, your press release is likely to be picked-up by the press in a way other stories might not be.
- Human interest: people are interested in people, so personalise your story.
- Local press and radio will more readily pick-up news of events, appointments, fundraising appeals and anniversaries - and stories with a community focus
- Above all, stories should be accurate and truthful!
Be cautious using strong opinion
Be careful with "conflict" stories. A journalist may be hungry for sensationalism and could present a strong view quite negatively, so be mindful of this when speaking out strongly on a subject.