[nfb-talk] Blindness-related press releases: do's, and don'ts

[T. Joseph Carter]

Eric,

I'd argue the two points you make regarding press releases related to
blindness apply universally.  Regardless of your field of interest or the
information you wish to report, there is inevitably someone out there who
doesn't know the information you wish to share.  Potentially, they don't
care, either--or at least they don't know why they should.

Certainly we have students of communication and journalism within our
organization, but Federationists skilled at communication did not write
this press release.  (To quote Foghorn Leghorn, "It was a joke, son,"
before someone takes offense.)  Actually, sometimes I think a few of our
press releases have not been written by Federationists with those skills.
(That ... isn't a joke, unfortunately.)  Sometimes the people who write
these things just aren't the people who should be doing it.

Regarding Braille Literacy Month, I don't think a press release will cut
it.  Several means of attracting attention should be employed, if I guess
rightly.  First, some casual mention of what January is, totally void of
detail, should appear as early in the month as would be noticed.  Then, at
least three days later, but preferably not more than a week later, remind
them of Braille Literacy Month and give them details of some actual event
they can choose to attend or participate in.

The first serves as a primer.  A person will see it, note it with passing
interest, and promptly "forget" it while the notion rattles around in the
back of their heads.  The second, detailed thing reminds them of something
they thought they'd forgotten.  If they have any interest, the reminder of
something they thought they had forgotten will spur them to take some
action before they manage to forget again.

Unrelated to blindness, but this technique works very well because, unless
they stop and analyze it objectively, even people who understand how and
why it works far better than I do still react the same way.  People just
don't think about it and act automatically.

Joseph,
Not a communications expert by any means

On Sun, Dec 30, 2007 at 08:28:35PM -0500, Eric Calhoun wrote:
> If one is to capture the curiosity of the news organization, an
> organization must:
> 
> Clearly state the "blindness-related" event to which they are referring.
> 
> Clearly _outline the goal(s) or objective(s) they wish to accomplish.
> 
> What bothers me is that many people don't follow, Joseph, this very
> simple, but very important strategy.  Often newspapers have a "F.Y.I." or
> fyi: "for your information" where readers that are a part of an organized
> movement, can convey their message.  My purpose here in this message is to
> ask 2 very poignant, but very important questions relating to blindness
> organizations:  What is most important, getting the blind consumer to
> participate, or giving them little detail?  Last, don't blindness
> organizations, such as the nfb, have people who have taken speech, public
> speaking, or remedial journalism classes in college?
> 
> It's important, in closing, that if such an event, such as Braille
> Literacy Month, occurs, that _all details should not be left out.
> 
> Eric