CharityComms

Chloe Nelson–Lawrie, British Canoe Union:
“A lot of our stories are about medal winnings and successes in canoeing, and we find it hard to sell in those stories because it’s good news. When we started a campaign about freedom to canoe on the rivers, the media ran with it, but only by saying we were at war with anglers in a sensational way. The story would be easier to deal with if they didn’t do that.”

Carla Maresca, Harlington Hospice Association:
“Yes, and that’s bad news for us. We try to use positive stories about the services we provide for terminally ill people, but that’s just not news... they just want to talk about death. We weren’t covered when we were awarded a half-a-million pound grant, even though we tried to tell a positive story about what we’d be doing with the money. If we’d raised the money by doing something obscure or controversial, we’d have got covered.”

Quentin Rayner, BBC East Midlands Today:
“I think it’s inevitable that we’re interested in bad news, because bad news is interesting. There should be a greater understanding of the poor news value of certain issues that charities think make a news story. But I don’t think it should be a difference between good and bad news. It’s a question of what’s interesting. If charities come to us with a good news story, we are interested, but they need to say how new their story is and how it’s changing people’s lives. That’s what news is all about.”

Linton Harper, St Jame’s House mental health charity:
“It’s true that the media are interested in bad news. What we can do to change that is provide real life stories that are around suffering, but then use them to tell a positive story. As charities, we should be able to show the positive side of any negative. We have to work harder to get our information out there.”

Gillian Trevethan, Hackney Council for Voluntary Service:
“I think they are, but that’s what makes news. The way charities can deal with it is to try to find the positive side of any negative story they’re running. We can say these problems exist, and these are the things we’re doing about it. There’s lots of issues in the press every day like that, that we can use to get our messages out there.”