Making the Headlines: The Paper Chase

While technology seems to have rendered the newspaper as an obsolete way of getting noticed, nothing still beats the prestige of landing a story or a photo on the broadsheets. Let's face it. Technology has a price and with the shoestring budget a Filipino makes for a living, not to mention the snail pace of internet access at skyrocketing prices, the good old newspaper is still worth your while. It's accessible. It's convenient. It's tangible – the bigger the ad, the higher the value. Why higher value? Because you pay to get noticed. It's senior-citizen friendly. It makes several heads work in unison towards perfecting a good story line as several heads are always better than one. And as the old saying goes, “it's hot off the press”.

Now, let's pump in some juice in Rotary and get that good deed story going. It's so I-S-S-I.

They say no one damn cares about doing good in the world. Indeed, often, getting the nod of print journalists means alarming news or sensational news. Why? Because they are interesting! They add color to an otherwise peaceful world as we would all like to believe. The keyword here is INTERESTING. How do you make it interesting? That's where the meat of this topic lies. Without INTEREST, you will not get the nod of the story writer. How do you make it interesting? Think out of the box. For example, when thinking of a service project, think of a catchy title to your service project. If it's a dental mission, perhaps a title like NGITING MAYNINGNING or a medical mission like SARAP NG PAKIRAMDAM will attract attention. Directing your project to a specific group in dire need like the boats, my club, the Rotary Club of Manila, in cooperation with the Governor Kai Fund of Japan, donated to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest typhoon ever recorded in man's history, definitely, is a news of interest.

Another, is to invite a known personality, like perhaps the congressman, the mayor or a celebrity hugging the limelight, to grace your service project with their presence like when Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez graced the turnover of boats for the Yolanda victims in the project of the Rotary Club of Manila.

This holds true likewise when it comes to weekly luncheon meetings of your club. Inviting known personalities subject of burning issues of the day to talk on such issue will definitely find your meeting in the papers. An example would be inviting Police Director General Bato de la Rosa and PDEA Chief Isidro Lapeña to your luncheon meeting because the war against drugs is in the headlines. Another concrete example would be like when our club, the Rotary Club of Manila, the First in Asia, invited our very own PVP Ben Diokno, the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management to speak before our club where we also invited the Rotary Club of Makati to be present in a joint meeting.

However, interest without continuing existence will not leave a lasting mark on your target audience or market. The keyword here is SUSTAINABLE. As the old saying goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Hence, in your projects make sure that you do not only distribute dole-out's but use the money to set up a livelihood. For example, when our club donated boats to a town in Capiz, we made sure that the cooperative set up would buy the catch and would sell it on retail to make sure that the use of the boats for fishing would be significant. A large scale example of sustainable projects include our club's Tourism Awards and Journalism Awards where a steady source of funding keeps them in place and at the same time have kept our club in the news.

The projects and weekly club meetings may be interesting and sustainable but when you write almost every detail of these, it becomes a boring grind and an eyesore to read. The keyword here is SHORT. Brevity, however, is relative. It should be measured on the basis of importance of the subject of the news. By short, I mean, everything is direct to the point and not beating around the bush. Remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Get the news straight.

Many say the last place is the place of honor. Thus, this is the whole point of what we do in Rotary. Like any gorgeous lady or any good-looking gentleman, just like in an impeachment complaint, it must be sufficient in form and substance. Meaning, the keyword here is IMPACT. The word is defined as the forceful striking of one thing against another. In simple terms, it means your service project or your club meeting should strike a key note to your target market or audience. For example, if your service project caters to a certain community which has already been the object of the same project by many different organizations, chances are, what you will be doing will just be “one of the many projects” routinely conducted which will not leave a lasting mark. Hence, not a news of interest to land in the papers. On the other hand, if your project is novel, even if it targets a community where many projects are being done, it will get noticed. In terms of your weekly club meetings, if you invite a personality whose topic does not hug the headlines, chances are, not a single print journalist will take interest in it.

Actions speak louder than words so when it comes to photos, action photos are the way to go to get on the map. Leave the posing to posers who never ring a bell.

Yes, one can always make the headlines but if it's all head, meaning only the doing of good deeds, but no lines, meaning no news on it, the buck stops there. And here is where my paper chase stops. Thank you and a pleasant day to all.