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Working With The Business News Media

From BBC and Sky News to the Observer and the Telegraph, business journalists shed light on what business schools can do to be on the news

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Top business journalists discuss what they expect from b-schools

For business schools vying to get their name in the business press, the UK Business School Communications Conference held at Cass Business School was an eye-opener.

A panel of some of the top business journalists in print, online and broadcast media, suggested dos and don’ts for business schools looking to get media coverage.

Jeff Randall, presenter of Jeff Randall Live on Sky News, explained the importance of having academics ready and willing to talk to journalists at short notice, especially for TV shows. He found US business schools more responsive than their UK counterparts, who he described as aloof and seemingly uninterested, with the exception of Cass Business School, where the conference was held.

Julia Werdigier is the business correspondent for the New York Times in London. Easily annoyed by persistent PR managers who follow up emails with phone calls, she suggested providing ideas –“the more shocking the better” – that grab media attention, the kind that garner interest in a pub conversation.

Andrew Clarke, Business Editor of the Observer, wanted academics that are contactable even out of hours, particularly on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday morning, before the Sunday papers go to press.

Previously the Executive Editor of news at the Observer, Kamal Ahmed is now the Business Editor of the Sunday Telegraph. He stressed the importance of b-schools not only coming up with innovative ideas and research, but also being able to provide raw data if needed for online coverage, which features more charts and analysis.

BBC World Service business editor James Whittington advised b-schools to be aware of the program they are pitching to: Radio 5 Live, The Today Programme and the 10 O’clock news all have different audiences and cover different types of stories.

The journalists also stressed the importance of providing media training to academics, and building up relationships with individual reporters over time.

Using Social Media

For business schools wondering how useful social media like Facebook and Twitter are for interacting with business journalists, there was a mixed reaction among journalists. Jeff Randall claimed to be ‘pathologically opposed’ to using social media while others were open to social networking as a way of getting ideas and reactions.

The UK Business School Communications Conference was organised by BusinessBecause.com and Mana Communications, hosted by Cass Business School, and sponsored by Grenoble Ecole de Management and Google. Speakers included experts from media, technology and policy backgrounds and delegates attended from top UK and European business schools.

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Comments

19 January 2011

I have organised media training for managers at work - can't imagine training some academics though! Interesting summary, thanks.

Kate Weston

15 January 2011

i've read a few articles by julia - i need to brush up my 'pub conversations' skills if i'm ever gonna be noticed by her though!

Jen

17 December 2010

It's all fairly obvious stuff, but looking at some of the b-school website news sections (as I have in my research for choosing the right b-school) they just don't follow these rules. It's ridiculous how boring and mind-numbing some of the press releases and news sections can be!!