So you want to get your story out there? How do I publish my news in the media?

The outlet

From the newspapers to Crikey, each news organisation has science writers trawling through dozens of story ideas each day. Science media outlets like the Conversation, New Scientist and Cosmos will have a different target audience, so choose your outlet wisely. Who are the readers - who do I want to target? Is the editor going to give you final say over your article? Browsing through the science articles in these outlets will give an indication of how they write.

The pitch

The pitch is just like an abstract submission, only cooler. It's a couple of hundred words with an eye-catching title that will stop people in their tracks. It has a brief outline, structured with the conclusion at the beginning. Which is why scientists find it hard to write for the news!!!

The process 

At SCS, Katherine Greenberg will take you through the whole process, from writing the pitch to editing articles, if need be. Katherine will also give you advice about how to handle a media interview and support and guide you if you’re faced with TV crews chasing you down the corridor (when you’ve discovered the next big cure).

Adding finesse

What jazzes up a news article is images, and people (and anything else you can think of). Katherine can help you source or produce good images to accompany your story. And by including a storyline in the article about the researchers, or the students, or most importantly, the people affected by the research, the article will gain a human angle making it much more attractive to publishers.

By Clare Westhorpe, your ECR rep