International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

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Strategies Working with Media
The media is a powerful force for educating the public about current events and issues. Media outlets include newspapers, radio, television, magazines, the Internet, and other ways of getting your word out to others. Coordinators should use the media to get as much public attention for their event as they can. To do this effectively, coordinators should learn about their local media opportunities, contact reporters and editors about HIV/AIDS issues in advance of the Candlelight Memorial, and make both information about their memorials as well as the issues available to media before, during, and after the event.	Building a Team Making a Plan Finding Resources Choosing Activities Integrating Advocacy Promoting the Event Working with Media Evaluating Results
Suggestions for using the media: Research deadlines for submitting stories, appropriate reporters or divisions accepting stories (some outlets have news directors, assignment editors, or reporters who specifically cover health or HIV/AIDS topics), and other requirements for your story, such as the number of words allowed for articles. Invite them to cover your event. Submit a one or two-page media advisory to local media outlets. Media advisories announce the basic information about the event by answering who, what, when, where, why and how. Submit advisories two days to a week before your event. Be sure to include your contact information at the top of the advisory. The day before your event, submit a one-page press release. Press releases describe the event in more detail than a media advisory, what makes your event newsworthy. Why is AIDS an important problem to address in your community? What are the goals and why is this memorial so important? Include quotes from important individuals. Consider writing an opinion article or a letter to the editor. Some newspapers have special sections for opinions or letters to the editor in which you can share your opinion regarding issues related to AIDS and the Candlelight, such as why you have chosen to coordinate a memorial in your community and issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in your country. After your event, write and submit a story to local media outlets about what happened during your memorial and what you think will change as a result of the event. Include photographs with descriptions of who is in them. The media may include your story in their publications. Be sure to share your stories and photographs with the Global Health Council, and we may also publish your stories. Please get permission to publish the names and photographs of your subjects, unless it is a group photograph in a public place. Even so, if there are identifiable subjects, you should ask their permission to publish. You do not need permission from public figures at a public event. HINT: Follow-up submission of press releases to a news agency with a phone call or personal visit. This helps reporters remember who you are and the importance of your event. Include a press kit with information about the Candlelight or HIV/AIDS to help them write the story. REMEMBER: Be sure to carefully consider your goals for submitting articles or press releases to media outlets. Why is this memorial significant to both the community and the country? What do you hope to accomplish as a result of your memorial? What message are you trying to convey? < Promoting the Event \| Evaluating Results >