Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
As a student studying public relations, one of the first things taught is the importance of interning. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for public relations specialists are growing at 7 percent annually. With a large number of students receiving degrees in communication, it’s now more paramount than ever to “get your foot in the door” and gain hands-on experience through internships.
What is an internship?
Internships are positions where individuals work in or for an organization, sometimes for college credits or without pay, in order to gain experience or satisfy requirements for job qualification. Interns are often portrayed in popular culture like fraternity pledges: running coffee orders, answering phones and printing material. However, one could argue that interns are a crucial factor in an organization, as they help keep the chaos at bay by keeping tasks orderly and lending a helping hand whenever needed.
Before interning, I knew only what had been taught to me in my introductory public relations courses. I knew that there would be a great deal of writing involved and that I would eventually have to be quick-witted in circumstances where tensions are high and deadlines are imminent.
In an academic setting, students learn the basics of PR: what it is, how it started, where it could be headed and how important it is. Students learn how to write introductory press releases, media kits and other crucial pieces of communication that help support clientele. They learn about public relations campaigns gone awry and cases that were handled with the utmost eloquence, such as the Tylenol crisis of 1982. Among all this information that academia provides, there is still something missing: experience. So, without further ado, I’ve compiled a list of the most prominent differences between learning about PR in school versus working in a professional setting.
Managing internal and external deadlines
Time-management is the name of the game. While in school, it is easy to block off time to dedicate to certain projects, and, let’s face it, procrastination tends to get the better of us all at times. However, working in the industry can be much more difficult when it comes to facing deadlines. If you miss a deadline for a school project, it’s a deduction to your grade, while missing a deadline for a client could cause a press release or product launch delay, which could then affect revenue and other business aspects. Client deadlines are crucial, which means procrastination is no longer an option. A good way to manage your time wisely is through the use of internal and external deadlines.
Internal deadlines are there to serve as motivators for execution and completion of projects. They are the goals and objectives that you give yourself surrounding project completion, usually 48 hours prior to the external deadline. External deadlines are shared between you and your team and work by using the power of peer pressure to hold everyone involved accountable. The completion of deadlines in a timely fashion is key, as they set a standard between you, your coworkers, and most importantly, the client.
While internal and team deadlines are vital, client deadlines are the most important. Our job in this business is to keep our clients happy and to try and convey the importance of PR and how it impacts their business, essentially proving why they should continue to practice PR.
Building an effective press list
Media relations are one of the most important pillars of PR. The relationship between media and public relations is symbiotic; we supply the media with stories that represent our clients and they are able to publish content that may gain traction with their audience. One of the ways we are able to reach the right media is through Cision.
Cision, otherwise known as the lifeline of every public relations professional, was never mentioned in school. Cision is a PR and earned media software company and services provider that helps aid in building press lists, retrieving contact information, and finding circulation and unique monthly visitors to key media outlets.
There is a plethora of functions and an ample amount of data on Cision, making this tool somewhat complex. This is where sleuthing comes in to play. Once we find reporters via Cision, we take a more in-depth approach and sleuth through each of their twitter feeds to understand the stories in which they are covering and gain a perspective on what they are most likely to accept from us.
These practices are valuable knowledge that every student studying PR needs to familiarize themselves with to be able to provide prompt, viable press lists. Check out our blog for more information on building a rock-solid press list.
The power of organization
I cannot say that school didn’t teach me a thing or two about organizational skills. Taking several public relations centered courses, along with extra-curricular activities, makes for a broad spectrum of work and deadlines. However, the level of organization that is used in a professional setting is incomparable. Before interning, I never organized my email in my inbox because I never had a range of different clients to categorize. And while an academic environment gives you some leeway to be free and organized at times, it is imperative that you stay organized while working for an agency.
A matter of time
Working in a PR organization, everyone must track his or her time. This way, the projects that we work on for clients are billed straight to the client and we are able to keep up with how many hours we completed for each client when the month is up. Since the environment in a PR firm is fast-paced and constantly moving, tracking time helps everyone keep up with the amount of work that is dedicated to each of our clients. By the time we have finished one project for a client, we have already started planning out the next ten steps towards a new project.
This kind of environment is something that one definitely has to learn to get used to. In an academic setting, the only time-tracking a student is pursuing are the hours or minutes until class is over. The pressure and workload stays at about the same pace until finals week. However, at the office, every week is finals week.
The importance of interning
It is important for students to intern to gain experience, and to figure out if he or she can see themselves working full time in that position. Think of it as a trial-run. You’re able to gain some insight into your strengths and weaknesses and can then tailor your course schedule to help build up those skills.
Had I not participated in an internship with Communiqué PR, I would not know how to properly formulate a pitch, create a working press list or briefing document, and so much more. Working here has helped me grow as a public relations professional and as a person. My internship was filled with excitement and provided an opportunity for me to constantly learn how to improve, and I will forever take this experience with me.
If you are interested in an internship opportunity with Communiqué PR, contact us at opportunities@communiquepr.com, or visit our careers page.
As PR professionals, we want to spark the interest of busy journalists to motivate them to consider our story idea. These journalists receive hundreds of pitches per day. So, how do we pique their interest?
Success often starts with presenting compelling information to journalists at the right time. It sounds pretty simple, but it can prove to be quite difficult. It’s challenging to PR professionals because we need to have newsworthy content and know how to frame it correctly. This means articulating a clear story angle and demonstrating why it is news.
The story angle is the specific viewpoint or perspective from which a writer tells his or her story – and often the same story can be told from a different viewpoint. Consider the fairytale of the “Three Little Pigs.” The story traditionally is told from the perspective of the pigs who are upset with the big bad wolf for blowing down the first pig’s straw house and the second pig’s house of sticks. The wolf is unable to destroy the third pig’s house, made of bricks.
This same story, however, can be told from a different angle. In “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, the story is told from the wolf’s perspective. For more on this, check out this fun YouTube video.
Our distribution of a press release about Richmond Capital Partners acquiring Smartlabs Inc. is a clear example of how different perspectives can shape the story angle. For this distribution, each reporter covered the news using a different angle. Casey Coombs with Puget Sound Business Journal decided his angle would focus on Rob Lilleness and his next career move. While Paresh Dave with the L.A. Times focused on the financial aspect of the acquisition. These reporters covered the same news, but used different angles for their stories.
According to Ragan’s PR Daily article, 16 Story Angles That Reporters Relish, some elements that make for a strong story angle include: conflict, an incident, extremes or superlatives, originality, relevance, and emotion. The inclusion of at least one of these elements, along with a personalized perspective, is a sure way to create an interesting and easily manifested story.
When pitching a story or writing an article, it is a good idea to consider all the potential angles and why each of those angles are significant. That way, you can weigh the pros and cons of one story angle versus another to come up with the strongest possible edge. Once you’ve decided on the story angle, you’ll begin writing and developing your lead.
Leads (or ledes) are strong, concise and usually are composed of 30 words or less. A lead is composed of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the story. Using a relevant anecdote comprised with specificity to the story to is an effective way to create a lead and pique the reader’s interest.
Here are some examples of intriguing leads:
- “Silicon Valley’s steady march toward self-driving cars took another step forward Friday as the ride-hailing company Lyft said its customers will be able to summon a driverless vehicle on some roads by the end of the year.” – The Washington Post
- “In eight decades since Amelia Earhart’s ill-fated flight around the globe, residents of her Kansas hometown have grown used to renowned historians and armchair researchers claiming to have finally solved the mystery of her disappearance.” – The New York Times
The headline creates motivation for the readers to determine whether or not they will invest time in reading your story. Headlines create an initial impression that will either draw readers in or fail to capture their attention.
In our blog post revolving around which headlines resonate with readers, we investigate what makes for an engaging headline and the steps the New York Times has taken to ensure its content is receiving views. As Mark Bulik, senior editor at the Times points out, the headlines with the most success are clear, powerful, and written in a conversational tone.
Headlines must embody the underlying theme of the story, and try not to mislead readers into thinking the story is something different, entirely. For more information on how to make an impact with your headline, read our blog post How Headlines Shape Perceptions.
Below is a sampling of the headlines about Richmond Capital Partners acquiring Smartlabs, Inc. (a full list of the editorial coverage is included in this post). By scanning these you can see at a glance, the various angles that reporters used:
- Cash infusion could bring Smartlabs more recognition, L.A. Times
- Smartlabs to open Seattle office after it’s acquired by Richmond Capital, The Seattle Times
- Seattle tech veteran buys first IoT company with new investment firm, Puget Sound Business Journal
For more articles to help you build your PR skills, please check out these related Communiqué PR blogs:
Prior to 1982, Tylenol was just the little bottle you grabbed out of your medicine cabinet when a headache hit. Seven deaths, millions of dollars and 35 years later, that little bottle is now the poster-child for crisis management.
What Happened?
In the years leading up to 1982, Tylenol dominated the over-the-counter painkiller industry with a controlling 37 percent share of the market. Consumers everywhere counted on Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to deliver a product that was consistently effective and trustworthy. The empire that Johnson & Johnson had carefully nurtured was critically threatened in October of 1982 when seven people in the Chicago area died from ingesting Tylenol Extra Strength.
The victims ranged from a 12-year-old girl who woke up with flu symptoms to a mother who had just given birth to her fourth child. All seven victims were seemingly unrelated and had died under the same mysterious circumstances with no evidence of foul play.
The first responders were dumbfounded by the string of deaths. What did all of these victims have in common? Helen Jensen, a nurse from the public health department, was combing over the details from an inventory taken at a house where three victims died when she made a startling realization: There were six missing Tylenol Extra Strength pills and three dead people — could the Tylenol be the culprit? Upon voicing this lead, the perceived absurdity of poisoned over-the-counter medication trounced her argument.
Further investigation proved Jensen right, and we now know that a still unidentified suspect removed the Tylenol bottles from the shelves of drugstores, laced the capsules with 10,000 times the lethal dose of potassium cyanide, and returned the bottles to the shelf. Consumers across the nation, plagued by fear, halted all purchasing of Tylenol products, and J&J’s market share quickly fell to 7 percent.
Johnson & Johnson’s Response
When news of the crisis broke, a crisis response team was quickly established, headed by then-CEO of Johnson & Johnson James E Burke (1925-2012). As terror spread throughout the nation, Burke, one of Fortune’s top 10 CEOs, and the crisis response team were faced with the immediate decision of either risking more deaths or removing the product from the shelves. After originally recalling all Tylenol products in the Chicago area, J&J decided it was in the public’s best interest to recall all 31 million Tylenol bottles — which were valued at an astounding $100 million.
Along with the recall, Johnson & Johnson opened a 1-800 hotline for anyone seeking information, sent over 400,000 warning messages to doctors offices and pharmacies, halted all advertising of the product, and offered a $100,000 reward for anyone with information about the suspect.
In a final effort to restore its reputation, J&J exchanged all already-purchased Tylenol capsules with a new form of the medication: tablets, which are much harder to tamper with. This exchange cost Johnson & Johnson millions of dollars, but if it even saved one life, the benefit far outweighed the cost. With every available preventative action taken, and no more reported deaths, the crisis response team turned their attention to phase two: the uphill battle of regaining consumers’ trust in Tylenol products.
Reintroducing the Product
For most consumers, the thought of ever taking an over-the-counter pain medication — not to mention Tylenol — was unimaginable. How could anyone be sure that there wasn’t an invisible killer hiding beneath the thin layer of cotton? That layer of cotton became an afterthought when the FDA introduced a new regulation calling for all packaging to be tamper-resistant, complete with the warning, “Do not use if safety seals are broken.”
Johnson & Johnson was the first business to adhere to these new FDA regulations in the hope that it would demonstrate the company’s commitment to the safety of its consumers.
To encourage the scared-off consumers to return to their once beloved Tylenol, J&J offered them a deal that few could refuse: a $2.50 off coupon distributed through the most popular national newspapers. J&J knew that “consumers” were not the only public they needed to reassure, so they turned their attention elsewhere. Over 2,250 J&J sales people made presentations to doctors offices, hospitals and pharmacies around the country in the hope that they could convince medical professionals to continue recommending Tylenol products. As a result of J&J’s tireless efforts, by December, Tylenol had regained 24 percent of the over-the-counter painkiller market share. In two months, Tylenol had made it full circle, from a trusted pain medication, to a cold-hearted killer, and finally, back to America’s favorite analgesic — a truly incredible recovery.
Analysis
Earlier in the case study I mentioned that J&J did a nationwide recall because it was in the public’s best interest. This statement, “public’s best interest,” was the governing principle for their crisis management plan and became the primary reason for Tylenol’s flawless recovery. Jerry Knight, a reporter for the Washington Post, said it perfectly in his October 1982 article: “What Johnson & Johnson executives have done is communicate the message that the company is candid, contrite, and compassionate, committed to solving the murders and protecting the public.”
Equally as important to its recovery was J&J’s dedication to thoroughly addressing all of their publics. Through transparency, J&J promoted open communication with the media so that the 125,000 news stories attributed to the crisis were mostly positive. Furthermore, by establishing a relationship and cooperating with both the Chicago police department and FDA, J&J was able to aid in the investigation and assist in the development of the tamper-resistant packaging, leading to exponential opportunities for positive media coverage.
Rather than employing crisis-response strategies like avoidance and refutation, which seek to distance or eliminate one’s self from the crisis, Johnson & Johnson adopted repentance and rectification. By using repentance, which is simply asking for forgiveness, J&J took responsibility for whatever role they played in the crisis and assured the public of their commitment toward making it right. J&J achieved rectification, or taking action to make sure that the occurrence will not happen in the future, by its timely adoption of tamper-resistant packaging.
The Tylenol Murders are said to be the first act of domestic terrorism in the United States and received almost as much media coverage as the assassination of JFK. With attributions such as these, it is an incredible feat that Tylenol still exists, and even more so that it continues to be widely used.
There is no master playbook or a one-size-fits all approach to a successful PR pitch, but there are several components that can help you adapt your outreach to meet your goals and objectives. No matter what you are promoting or who you’re trying to reach, there are certain elements all public relations professionals should consider when developing and executing a pitch.
Do your homework when developing your pitch list
Get to know the players. Spend time doing your research and identifying what reporters are writing about in your industry. Browse articles and read bylines to get a better sense of what they’re interested and what they’ve covered recently.
Build relationships. You want to be a credible source for the reporters you’re connecting with. Comment on their articles and follow them on social media. Give them what they need and don’t burden them with emails that are not relevant.
Pitch a story – not your client’s company
The goal is to figure out storylines that resonate with the audience of your target outlets while ensuring your clients’ key messages are coming through.
Position your story as part of a trending news topic that appeals to a broader audience. Leverage your client’s expertise as a thought leader in the space and offer spokespeople to further make your case. Preparing examples such as stats, metrics and third-party reports will help support your perspective and solidify your ideas. Make it hard for them to say no.
Think about:
- Who is this story about?
- Who is it relevant to – who is your target audience?
- What is happening?
- When and where is your story taking place?
- Why is this valuable? Why are you (or your client) doing this?
Also, be respectful of their right to make the decision and pass on a story. Remember, it’s all about the reporter and the outlet, not you or your client.
Concise subject line
Get to the point. Successful outreach starts with a subject line that grabs the reporter’s attention. Reporters are inundated with emails and phone calls while constantly working toward pressing deadlines. A pithy and succinct subject line that offers value will increase the chances they will read your pitch.
What’s your value-add?
Differentiate yourself from the competition. Demonstrate the significance of what you’re pitching and why it’s important to the reporter’s audience. What value does it provide? How does it relate to a current trend or breaking news story? How does it align with their recent coverage?
Never include attachments
Links to additional information is preferred. Bogging reporters down with lengthy attachments is surefire way to get your emails directed to their spam folders. If they want to dig deeper they will follow up. This way you can provide them with exactly what they need, instead of flooding them with too much information and expecting them to sift through it.
Spellcheck!
Pitches, and all communications you send, should always be free of spelling errors. No exceptions. It’s always helpful to have a second set of eyes on the final pitch prior to distribution.
Follow up
Every agency and PR professional has a different way to approach the cadence of the follow-up outreach, but regardless of preference, it is a vital part of the process. Generally speaking, after the initial email a phone call should follow in the coming days. When you speak to the reporter, get straight to your point. Recognizing they are always on deadline, it’s helpful to start with “Is now a good time?” Then quickly let them know what you’re calling about and that you want to gauge their interest. If it’s a yes, get them what they need. If no, you can ask for feedback as to why it’s not something they would cover.
If you can’t reach a reporter, avoid the temptation to call repeatedly. Pay attention to any clues as to why they are unavailable. For example, the reporter may be out of the office for a vacation, sick day or a work trip. When you leave a message, keep it short and concise.
Twitter can also be a helpful tool to gain insight into their availability. For example, it they tweet that they are on their way to SXSW, you know why they’re not answering. Also, many reporters prefer to communicate through direct messages on Twitter.
If you integrate these components into your strategy as you develop your pitch, it can help you, and your clients, secure results.
TEDxSeattle is one of the largest and oldest TEDx events in the U.S. Started in 2010, it is a day-long program held each November attracting about 2,600 curious and involved attendees. According to its organizers, “[TEDxSeattle] is carefully designed to honor a city known for its blend of innovators, technology leaders and edgy artists.”
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Elizabeth Coppinger, the executive director and curator of TEDxSeattle, to learn more about this year’s event, which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 18. I was particularly interested in three things: why people should attend TEDxSeattle; how speakers are selected; and how TEDx organizers help those speakers prepare. Here is what I learned.
TEDxSeattle, a local brand licensed from TED, is a platform for people to present and hear about ideas so powerful that they need to be broadly shared. This year’s theme is “Changing Places.”
On the TEDxSeattle website they explain: “Changes in where and how we live are troubling for some, motivating for others. This year’s conference will explore the implications of change for the city in which we live; and for our country and the world.”
According to Coppinger, the organizers felt the theme was appropriate because, with so many new people moving into the area, Seattle is changing dramatically in terms of population and demographics. There is also significant development with new buildings and roads physically changing our communities.
“In this maelstrom of change, people are contemplating their roles in the community and how they can adapt or impact this change in a positive manner,” explained Coppinger.
The Attendee Experience
I’m a huge fan of online TED talks and TEDx videos, but until I spoke with Coppinger, I had not seriously considered attending an event in person. Now, I am realizing that there are some significant benefits to attending the full TEDxSeattle program.
Coppinger astutely pointed out when you watch a TED video online, you probably self-selected the content. However, when you attend an all-day TEDx event, you broaden your horizons because you hear from a wide range of speakers who have been carefully curated by the event organizers. This means you are likely to be exposed to new ideas and stretch your mind.
In addition, when you attend a TEDx event, you have the opportunity to connect with others in your local community. Connecting and discussing ideas is a very important part of the one-day experience. Conversing with others about a talk you’ve just heard further shapes your perceptions and may spark additional thoughts about new ideas.
Speaking at TEDxSeattle
If you want to speak at TEDxSeattle, Coppinger highly recommends that people sign up for and attend the event so they have their own first-hand experience and can get a better sense of the format of the program and how to add value as a presenter.
The organizers receive about 250 nominations each year from a mix of artists, philanthropists, scientists, technologists, and business leaders. This means there is significant competition for approximately 14 presentation slots. The organizers make speaker selections very carefully, and to be invited you need to have a compelling core idea that aligns with the theme. According to Coppinger, “Your core idea and how well you can express it is by far the most critical element.”
When I heard the organizers received so many nominations, I was curious about how they sort through them all to make their final selections.
“Pre-screeners review the initial nominations and select the top 50 to 75 of the nominations to advance to the scoring round,” Coppinger explained. “Once a nomination makes it to the scoring round, we review it for the quality of the idea and we look at the strength of the argument. For instance, we consider the examples or proof points that support the idea.”
Sometimes at the scoring stage, the TEDxSeattle speaker selection committee will ask nominees to provide additional information. The selection committee then meets again to discuss the nominations with the highest scores and determines who will be invited in for in-person interviews. After the in-person interviews, the speaker selection committee extends final invitations and notifies others that they have not been chosen.
Top-Notch Coaching & Support
If the organizers invite you to speak, you’ll be given significant support. Specifically, they’ll assign a mentor to guide you through the process. You’ll also receive the support of a graphic artist and professional speaker coach to help you take your idea off the page and onto the stage.
“Our speaker coaches are invaluable in helping people focus their ideas into a presentation arc,” said Coppinger. “They help people with attention-grabbing introductions, transitions to main points, and the development of conclusions that leaves the audience inspired and thinking about the idea well into the future. We want people to leave TEDxSeattle inspired to make a difference.”
Finally, KCTS is an important partner and provides studio space to the TEDxSeattle presenters so they can rehearse in front of organizers and mentors.
Sponsorship
Putting on the TEDxSeattle program is costly, but fortunately Washington State Employees Credit Union has been a key underwriter and vital partner for several years. Nonetheless, TEDxSeattle is looking for additional sponsors to subsidize tickets for students. “We want TEDxSeattle to be accessible to younger people in our community because they are such an important audience,” said Coppinger. “Many students find our $80 tickets to be expensive so if a company is interested in helping to sponsor student attendance, we’d welcome the opportunity to talk with them.”
Tickets for Nov. 18 will go on sales on September 10.
Think about the well-known names in news media. There is a good possibility that at least one of these names popped into your head: The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fox, ABC, NBC, and Associated Press. Throughout history, there have been certain news sources that are especially well known and revered, and a lot of them stand the test of time. But, what if, in 30 years, the newest generations have never heard of The New York Times? Weird, I know, but it could happen. That is how I felt when I was asked to do some content research on UPI, a news website I have never even heard of. What I expected to be a fairly simple task, turned out to be a fascinating research project on what was once one of America’s most important and prominent news sources. Interested? Good, because I am here to answer those burning questions.
First of all, what is UPI?
UPI, or United Press International, is an international news agency created in 1907 by E. W. Scripps. Formally United Press, until its merger with the International News Service in 1958, UPI has provided thousands of newspapers, magazines and other media outlets with news material over the last 110 years. In its heyday, the company was one of the largest and most influential new agencies in the U.S. It has even been called “one of the great institutions of American journalism.”
Before we dig into UPI’s historical importance, let’s get some background. What, exactly, is a news agency?
A news agency, also known as a newswire, is an organization or company that collects news and then sells it to newspapers or other news outlets that subscribe to its feed. This may seem counterintuitive, since it is a newspaper’s job to report the news, but most newspapers don’t have the capital or resources to have reporters or bureaus that are outside of the city in which they are based. For example, a newspaper in France may not be able to have a reporter present at the inauguration of the President of the United States, so it subscribes to a news agency that provides them syndicated content written by the agency’s reporter.
Currently, the top news agencies are the Associate Press (AP), Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). Agencies like Reuters and UPI operate by selling the physical news itself, while agencies like AP and AFP work as cooperatives that are essentially owned by the subscriber newspapers and media outlets, which all contribute by submitting their own stories, as well as using materials written by the coop’s staff. This difference in structure can have an impact on how the journalists within the agency report, but we will get into that later.
Now we can get to the good stuff. What is it that makes UPI so important?
When UPI showed up on the media scene, there weren’t a lot of news agencies out there. In fact, the only serious competition in the industry was AP. So while UPI was a scrappy alternative to the well-known and better established AP, it was important for media outlets to have multiple sources for their stories, so many subscribed to both agencies. UPI’s famous slogan, “Get it first, but first, get it RIGHT,” bred multiple generations of notoriously aggressive and competitive journalists known as Unipressers, many of whom went on to win Pulitzer Prizes for their journalism or photography. In fact, 10 UPI employees have received Pulitzers and UPI’s list of notable alumni is a mile long.
One of the most notable, and memorable, reporters to win a Pulitzer from UPI was Merriman Smith. Smith, a legend among Unipressers, was the first person to report the Kennedy Assassination, which he reported just nine minutes after the event took place. An eyewitness, Smith was travelling in the press car with other reporters at the time of the shooting. Smith literally fought the attending AP reporter for the press car’s only phone to call UPI and dictate the story. As the underdog, this was a huge win, and this kind of scrappy initiative was the beating heart of UPI.
It wasn’t just the reporters that made UPI so important, but also what those reporters covered. For example, UPI was instrumental in reporting on the civil rights movement due to its independence. Since AP is owned by the newspapers it services, the papers have some influence over coverage, and this was true during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Southern-owned newspapers influenced the agency and coverage often slanted or minimized the racial unrest that was brewing, so it was difficult to get a full picture of the movement through AP. UPI didn’t have that problem, as they are not owned by the papers, so reporters were free to cover the news and report on events unbiasedly.
UPI was simply a great source for newspapers, radio and broadcast to get unbiased, fast and reliable news. UPI’s reporters were passionate, dedicated, and covered some of America’s most important events and, in its prime, UPI had over 6,000 subscribing news outlets, thousands of staff and bureaus across the globe.
Where is UPI now?
UPI is still alive and kicking, it’s just not as big as it was before. When newspapers sales took a big dip, most publishers had to choose between AP and UPI, with a majority going to AP. That, paired with some questionable decisions by management, caused UPI to take a huge hit. From the 1980s onward, UPI was sold and resold to different investors and companies until it landed at News World Communications in 2000. UPI is now focusing on more niche markets, especially entertainment, defense, energy, science, health and sports. UPI reporters are still churning out good content, and if you ask nicely, you can request permission to use UPI content and photos on your own site. UPI may not be the powerhouse it once was, but it played an important role in documenting America’s history, and for that it should be remembered.