+geospotter Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Do any of the associations, or GC, have a public relations firm or person? It seems that every once and a while we have newspaper articles that present misinformation that portrays geocaching in a bad light. Perhaps it time to have a PR firm write some articles for us, and submit them to newspapers nationwide. I don't mean hiring an expensive NY agency, but maybe someone just starting out or a recent graduate. I'd chip in for some 'good' press. Any other ideas along this line? Quote Link to comment
umc Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 One of our MiGO steering group members handles these types of things pro-actively and reactively. This is handled locally though here in MI and its a good thing to have one person handling it vs. each and every individual cacher. As far as the press is concerned they still interview individual cachers but a lot of the time they will post in the forums asking for suggestions on how to handle things, which is great. What are some examples of bad press in your area? I know we've all heard of the bomb squad stories and such but what else? Just curious. Quote Link to comment
+geospotter Posted December 10, 2003 Author Share Posted December 10, 2003 (edited) I was just reading this posting. I know Criminal did a nice piece. Edited December 10, 2003 by geospotter Quote Link to comment
umc Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Geeez, I couldn't sit through the whole article on that one. Its clear that ignorance is a big part of that article. Speaking of PR though, we've been dealing with the DNR for a bit now and have successfully converted one of our contacts at the DNR into a cacher. Unfortunately he is not one of the higher ups. Quote Link to comment
+Snoogans Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Geeez, I couldn't sit through the whole article on that one. Its clear that ignorance is a big part of that article. Speaking of PR though, we've been dealing with the DNR for a bit now and have successfully converted one of our contacts at the DNR into a cacher. Unfortunately he is not one of the higher ups. Maybe someone needs to post a thread on how to properly become a geocaching evangelist. It looks like UMC has a head start on the rest of us. Sn gans Quote Link to comment
+team travel pig Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Newsflash. Reporters aren't supposed to pick a side - they're supposed to be on the fence and present both sides. And I think the Trib did a pretty good job. BTW, no self respecting newspaper prints press releases, and no self respecting reporter would promise to tell the "good points". If there are good points, they'll bring them up - as he did, as others have in other articles I have read. Hey. It's OK for someone to disagree with you. Frankly - people who think geocaching is a good idea are in the minority. Think how many of your friends / family know about this and think it's dumber than a door knob. So what? I'm probably wasting my breath because media bashing is pretty much everyone's favorite past time these days. As you were. Quote Link to comment
umc Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Frankly - people who think geocaching is a good idea are in the minority. Yep, then there is the ignorant majority. Quote Link to comment
+geospotter Posted December 11, 2003 Author Share Posted December 11, 2003 (edited) Newsflash. Reporters aren't supposed to pick a side - they're supposed to be on the fence and present both sides. And I think the Trib did a pretty good job. BTW, no self respecting newspaper prints press releases, and no self respecting reporter would promise to tell the "good points". If there are good points, they'll bring them up - as he did, as others have in other articles I have read. Hey. It's OK for someone to disagree with you. Frankly - people who think geocaching is a good idea are in the minority. Think how many of your friends / family know about this and think it's dumber than a door knob. So what? I'm probably wasting my breath because media bashing is pretty much everyone's favorite past time these days. As you were. So the multi-billion dollar PR business is a sham? The newspaper here has printed every one of our press releases. Newspapers also use 'stringers' (non-employee contributors). Where do you think the newspapers get their ideas for articles? From the newspaper? The 'life-style' section, where most stories regarding geocaching would end up, hardly tries to maintain journalistic integrity. I can't imagine showing both sides of the proper method to carve a turkey, or debating both sides of the newest cookie recipe. The idea is to give them information about a new sport that people are enjoying. The first impression should be good not bad. Edited December 11, 2003 by geospotter Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 The national organizations should have the equivilent of a PR/Lobby section. Local groups who are more than beer n pizza type groups should take care of it locally and follow the national groups lead. In the USA some of the more pro-active groups could teach everyone else a thing or two based on their efforts. Quote Link to comment
+robert Posted December 11, 2003 Share Posted December 11, 2003 I do the "PR/Marketing" for Maryland, have done so for the past couple of months. We've done a lot before I got here with regards to communications with parks people so the "hard work" was done already. I've had a newspaper article printed--the reporter went along with one of our members (Last Lap Gang) and had a lot of fun. The article was written and published within a few days. Quote Link to comment
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