- Have a strategy/action plan to follow. If youre planning a media campaign, speak to your Communications rep for help in developing a strategy and your main message.
- Inform your members, make sure they grasp the issue and support it.
- Know what your message is and make sure it is news. If you try to get coverage for non-news, it will harm you when you have real news to communicate.
- Be able to say it in a few sentences. Reporters are looking for a good quote from you that sums up your side of the story.
- Let the media know how to reach you and be available at the phone number you give them.
- Contact your potential allies, e.g. labour council, politicians, community leaders. Try to visit them personally. Explain the issue.
- Consider a joint effort. When all the unions in a workplace act together, the media takes notice.
- If approached by the media, dont say no comment. If you cant respond right away, tell the reporter youll get back to them with an answer. If you cant comment, find someone who can.
- Try to prepare a simple one-pager of facts and/or basic background information for the media about your union local and whom you represent. Dont assume reporters know that CUPE stands for the Canadian Union of Public Employees or what kind of work members do.
- Prepare a list of the news media contacts for your area.
- Help is available through your CUPE rep or CUPEs Communications Branch.
