In previous comms manager roles people from around the organisation would come to me with ideas for news. But all too often these ideas ended up being spiked because they did not have that unusual, unexpected factor.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could easily explain to your whole company what you are looking for from story and content ideas? And If your whole business understood (just a little) about what stories interest a journalist and why?
This is something that all media teams struggle with.
So what exactly have stoned sheep got to do with this?
Well, the story which really captured our imagination this week was not any of the fear based articles instigated by either side of the EU referendum battle or the latest bungled PR surrounding the sacking of a Manchester United manager.
No, what caught our interest was a tale of sheep going on the rampage in a quiet Welsh village after eating cannabis plants which had been dumped.
And we were not alone in our love for this story which has put Rhydypandy on the map, with articles across the globe, from the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Mirror in this country, to USA Today and the Toronto Sun.
It’s a great story which has the U factor – or perhaps that should be Ewe factor in this instance. That means it is unusual or unique and it is a key component of what we refer to in our media training and the storytelling and content development sessions we are often asked to provide as the TRUTH test.
That acronym helps our expert tutors show delegates exactly what journalists are looking for in a story and what makes something newsworthy. It means they are looking for something which is Timely, Relevant, Unusual, has an element of Trouble and Human interest.
If a story includes at least four of the five elements of TRUTH then you have the basis of something which could attract media interest and be newsworthy.
The unusual element can be the difference between having something which is important to your organisation and something which is newsworthy and picked up by the media. It is also something which is often missing.
Of course the unusual element is not always going to be as obvious as cute animals and a Class B drug habit, but perhaps the story your spokesperson is trying to tell is the first, the biggest, or even smallest. Encourage your spokespeople, and other people in the organisation, to think about what would surprise an audience and make them sit-up and take note.
To stick with the animal theme, and to use an old journalism aphorism, dog bites man is not a story, but man bites dog is news.
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