There are many ways to work with your local media to promote your practice or institution and to advance rheumatology on a regular basis. Three of these ways are:
- Speaking out about advocacy issues: With health policy changing every day, your local media outlets might be interested to know how these decisions affect you, your patients, and your profession on a local level.
- Providing expert opinions: Does your local paper have a health reporter? The next time you see a rheumatology-related story, feel free to comment directly to the reporter (who will typically provide his or her e-mail address with the story), introducing yourself as a local area expert on the subject.
- Joining conversations: If your local publication has social media components, such as message boards or comment features online, join the conversation and share opinions.
A final tip for working with your local media: Don’t underestimate the smaller media outlets in your area. If you live in a big city, don’t feel like you should only work with large media outlets (like The New York Times, for example). Great strides can be made by working with smaller media outlets. When you are deciding whom to reach out to, consider everything you read and what your patients are reading. That is where you want to go, even if it isn’t the largest media outlet in town.
The ACR is committed to pitching valuable stories to the media, but your local connections can be of help as well. If you have any questions about how to work with your local media, contact Erin Latimer, the ACR’s senior specialist of communication and marketing, at [email protected].
