Population Reports is published by the Population Information Program, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202-4012, USA

To make informed choices about family planning, women and men need accurate information in the media as well as in the clinic. The media are looking for news important to the millions of people they reach each day. Thus helping the news media cover family planning fully and accurately merits the efforts of every family planning program.

Family planning programs often have opportunities to make the news because they affect large numbers of people, reflect changing social attitudes and practices, involve government leaders, and deal with controversial issues. Many journalists, however, know little about family planning, and other topics compete for their time and attention. Most family planning programs, for their part, have made little effort to encourage informative, accurate news coverage.

Effective news media relations has many benefits, complementing other communication efforts. What people read, see, or hear in news coverage can lend credibility to family planning and help to make it a legitimate and familiar topic for public discussion. News coverage can inform people about family planning choices and help them ask providers appropriate questions. Skill in media relations can help avoid or dispel rumors, respond to criticism, defuse controversy, and even turn adversity to advantage. News coverage is crucial to engaging policymakers' attention and earning opinion leaders' support. Also, because the news media pay distribution costs, helping journalists cover family planning is a cost-effective way to communicate.

How can family planning organizations develop good working relationships with journalists in radio, television, and print? By building a news media relations program, staffed by professionals with support from senior management, that becomes an integral part of the organization's outreach. An effective program links the family planning organization with journalists, and it represents the interests of each to the other. Providing accurate and newsworthy information builds credibility and trust, which leads to better coverage.

Like other communication efforts, working with the news media is done best when it is based on a strategy and follows a systematic process. A good strategy seeks opportunities to match the goals and objectives of the organization with the interests of journalists. As in other communication strategies, assessing the needs of the audience—journalists—is important to reaching them effectively.

The most important task of media relations is to find newsworthy information and to present it to journalists accurately and in ways that they can use. Most organizations that work well with the news media rely on proven techniques, methods, and materials. These include:

• Providing accurate, timely, and interesting information;
• Collecting and analyzing information about the news media's interests and needs;
• Producing news releases, feature stories, opinion pieces, newsletters, and other readily usable material;
• Preparing press kits, fact sheets, experts lists, and other aids for journalists;
• Presenting story ideas to journalists, and responding to their requests for information and assistance;
• Arranging and assisting with news conferences, site visits, and other events that interest the news media;
• Helping journalists make contact with program staff, including arranging interviews; and
• Dealing with opposition and public controversies when they arise, and countering false rumors.