Publicity Club of Chicago

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By David Brimm The old political adage was think globally, act locally. In today’s news business, it’s think locally, act as a community. At the April meeting of the Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC), suburban Chicago editors maintained that the battle for media supremacy rests with the ability of media outlets to gain penetration within the communities they serve. And that the most potent weapon will rest with their ability to mobilize “citizen journalists” through social media and online reporting. Panel members were John Lampinen, editor of the Daily Herald; Kyle Leonard, managing editor of Triblocal.com; and Mike Cetera, editorial director for the Sun-Times Media West Region. The discussion was moderated by Mark Zonca, managing editor for WGN/CLTV. Mark Zonca mzonca@tribune.com or 773-883-3362 A 20-year veteran of broadcast television as a journalist and producer, Zonca has been with the Tribune Company since 2007 and is managing editor for WGN-TV and CLTV, Chicago’s only 24-hour cable news channel. Prior to WGN, he was a supervising producer for the WBBM-TV (Channel 2) news and a freelance producer at WMAQ-TV. Zonca, like all of the panelists, noted the changing landscape for local media coverage. Managing a 24-hour news operation, his deadline is NOW! For the past 8 months he has been grappling with merging the newsrooms for WGN and CLTV. The result is that both stations share one news room, one assignment desk, one pool of reporters and one photo desk as they turn content 24 hours a day on multiple platforms. Email is the best contact method, and it is advised to contact the main news desk to pitch stories. As always, the subject line is key. There are no special reporters for beats, so go through the main assignment/planning desk. There was a STOP THE PRESSES moment during Zonca’s talk when he revealed news about the Local News Service Chicago, a local news service that pools video of local news coverage such as news conferences and other media availability. LNS coordinates coverage plans and feeds the video to local stations 24/7. CBS, NBC, FOX and WGN/CLTV are all partners in LNS. Click here for the story. John Lampinen jlampinen@dailyherald.com Lampinen is both editor of The Daily Herald and a senior vice president with Paddock Publications, a family-owned paper for more than 100 years . He has received more than 20 writing and editing awards during his long career, including the Chicago Headline Club Ethics in Journalism Award. Although Lampinen was gracious enough to invite attendees to call him with questions, the hope is that PR people will contact the proper beat reporter and not call the editor of a major daily. To pitch a story, email the Daily Herald at dhcontent@dailyherald.com or news@dailyherald.com . Do not send faxes. Remember that the Daily Herald still actually has designated sections and beat reporters, so start all queries there. Lampinen recommended that PR people reach out to his reporters via Facebook. Reporters are encouraged to make “friends” with community contacts, so this is the way to go.

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