Archery in the local newspaper

[Jenny]

Just bought my local newspaper today and they're actually covering archery in the sports section! I've never seen it in before so it came as a bit of a surprise.

I've noticed that it's still not covered in the same way as other sports, this particular article aminly picks out what the local club did well at. There are no scores and it doesn't tell you what rounds were shot, but at least it's in there!

If you want to see a scan of the article, click on the link below:

http://www.bluelollipop.com/personal/archeryarticle.jpg


~Jenny~

[Little Miss Purple]

some coverage is better than no coverage, nice to see it.

Archery in the press. Things are looking up.
The problem with Archery is it's not very good to watch. I have watched a few tournaments and find it's like watching paint dry. It's a doing thing. How can Archery be made sexy? teh Olympics are quite good, but to be honest the top of the world archers shooting 70m is just too easy. How about some longer distance stuff, or dare I say it. Compound. Compound bows are sooo much more sexy. Rambo factor!
Rich

[Max]

Lots of local newsapapers are quite keen to include archery but need telling. A quick call to your local paper will often pay didvidends - don't expect them to understand the sport or automatically report your shoot, but a bit of PR in advance will usually result in fairly good coverage, even a photographer turning up at your shoot if you are lucky - let's bang the drum a bit. Make friends with your local editor.

[Tom]

When I was a member of the Garson Archers in Orkney they used to have a weekly half-Portsmouth. The results would then be submitted to the local newspaper who were more than happy to give coverage and post the results(space filling maybe ).

If you want coverage just ask your local paper.

[tel]

Originally Posted by rgsphoto

...... the top of the world archers shooting 70m is just too easy. How about some longer distance stuff, or dare I say it. Compound. Compound bows are sooo much more sexy. Rambo factor!
Rich

And top of the world compound archers wouldn't make it look easy?

[Max]

My experience with local press is that they are always on the lookout for a local interest story, particulary if there is a photo angle that will grab a reader's attention. It is also good to have a link to known public figures - maybe if you want to entice a reporter to your shoot, it is worth considering inviting someone like the local Mayor to be Lord or Lady Paramount for example. That kind of thing can lift a story from the sports section to the front page, on a slow news week.

What I have found particulary useful is to have a very short written information sheet (about 100 words or so) giving key facts and figures. Reporters are by no means stupid, but are more used to dealing with everyday events and don't always take in all the details when faced with a completely unfamiliar event.

A classic example of this occurred to me in the mid 80's when I arranged a demonstration on behalf of the local Amateur Radio Society, at the Halifax Charity Gala. The reporter was very interested to see members in communication with other amateurs in Europe, but I explained to him that the distance radio signals could travel was linked to Sun Spot activity, which affected the Earth's Ionosphere. When the story was published, it stated that we could not contact America because the sun was shining. You have been warned!

[Macbow]

I'm a former newspaper journalist & still freelance. My local paper gives excellent coverage to loads of minority sports (archery, martial arts, tai chi, skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding etc) because articles and photos are submitted. Journalists don't have the time to scour the country looking for archery stories or crystal balls to predict when events will happen. Clubs need to support their local paper and they will get support in return. Newspapers are businesses selling advertising and papers on the back of news. Take out a small club advert every so often - paying advertisers have more chance of booking a photographer to cover a story. If a club member is attending a national event submit a short article and digital photo by email before the event (including photo captions with names & remember local papers are only interested in local faces) and if he/she does well then another after the event. Even a picture of local guy who got nowhere taken with a world champion is good. Group photos of new members enjoying archery (kids rather than adults as parents & relatives will buy loads of copies of the paper), winners of local leagues with a photo of top three in the foreground, all members in the background and remember to include your bows to give meaning to the photo. Only include top 3 results - screeds of names mean nothing. If your club press officer is on the case your local paper will give regular coverage to archery. Newspapers need copy to fill the pages, especially during summer holidays and around Christmas when news is in short supply. Articles do not need to be that well written - just the facts, properly spelled names and a contact number for the journalist to get some personal quotes from. Try and find angles - whole families doing archery, inspiring members, youngest & oldest etc. Read your local rag and see what they like to cover. And remember that journos are not experts in your field so be prepared for mistakes and don't moan about them afterwards. Try and avoid technical details that are interesting to you but boring to everyone else. Any coverage is better than nothing and the general public won't know or care.

[Tobytoolbag]

Originally Posted by Macbow

I'm a former newspaper journalist & still freelance. My local paper gives excellent coverage to loads of minority sports (archery, martial arts, tai chi, skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding etc) because articles and photos are submitted. Journalists don't have the time to scour the country looking for archery stories or crystal balls to predict when events will happen. Clubs need to support their local paper and they will get support in return. Newspapers are businesses selling advertising and papers on the back of news. Take out a small club advert every so often - paying advertisers have more chance of booking a photographer to cover a story. If a club member is attending a national event submit a short article and digital photo by email before the event (including photo captions with names & remember local papers are only interested in local faces) and if he/she does well then another after the event. Even a picture of local guy who got nowhere taken with a world champion is good. Group photos of new members enjoying archery (kids rather than adults as parents & relatives will buy loads of copies of the paper), winners of local leagues with a photo of top three in the foreground, all members in the background and remember to include your bows to give meaning to the photo. Only include top 3 results - screeds of names mean nothing. If your club press officer is on the case your local paper will give regular coverage to archery. Newspapers need copy to fill the pages, especially during summer holidays and around Christmas when news is in short supply. Articles do not need to be that well written - just the facts, properly spelled names and a contact number for the journalist to get some personal quotes from. Try and find angles - whole families doing archery, inspiring members, youngest & oldest etc. Read your local rag and see what they like to cover. And remember that journos are not experts in your field so be prepared for mistakes and don't moan about them afterwards. Try and avoid technical details that are interesting to you but boring to everyone else. Any coverage is better than nothing and the general public won't know or care.

Well said, Macbow - as a fellow freelance journalist/editor, I couldn't agree more - although I bet your editor was always hounding you to put in more paragraph marks!:wink:

[JohnK]

I've submitted articles to the local newspaper, and we even got a professional photographer from the local press visiting us during our Centenary shoot in the summer. However, while the Worcester News produced a photo spread on the shoot they decided to cut certain critical elements of the text I submitted - namely, the contact details for the club!

The Malvern paper was even worse. They seemed to begrudge the Worcester News spread and so put a small photo in a corner of a back page with a tiny bit of text.

I've also found that when they edit articles they tend to introduce spelling/grammar/syntactical errors. Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity . . . unless one of the stubborn local dog walkers actually gets shot on our field, that is.