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Illinois School Board Journal
September/October 2006

Repeat after me...'Media are our friends'

by Kathy Wallig

Kathy Wallig is public relations coordinator for Urbana School District 116 and member of the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association and NSPRA. She also has experience covering school boards as a correspondent for the News-Gazette in Champaign.

There I stand at the beginning of each school year, in front of our assembled new teachers in the district, asking them to repeat after me: "The media are our friends. The media are our friends. The media are our friends."

No, it's not an exercise in futility. I genuinely believe this, and any school board member who chooses to serve his or her community should believe it as well.

A wonderful definition for friend is: "One who is not an enemy." Once we have figured out that the media are not "out to get us," the more adept we become at our relationships with them.

A reporter is required to do only two things: 1) Report the news accurately and 2) report the news fairly. A reporter is not obligated to make a school board or district look good, nor is a reporter intent on making a school board or district look bad. The news is; it just is.

Public institutions live and die by public opinion and public schools naturally fall into that realm. Public engagement is among the most treasured aspects of what we do. And in order to engage the public, school districts need the media as a conduit for engagement. It's a win/win situation. But there's more to be gained rather than given away by maintaining good relationships with the media.

First of all, journalists are people, too. They put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. They have kids and child care issues. They walk the dog, worry about paying the bills, and have hobbies and outside interests.

Additionally, they operate within a code of ethics. (For an example, visit http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp to view the Society of Professional Journalists' written Code of Ethics.) Just as you would treat your co-workers or friends with respect and consideration, look on the media the same way. We need to appreciate and value the fact that a reporter has a job to do — it's not a personal issue — and allow him or her to do that job.

Trust is implicit in any relationship, whether it's with your significant other, your employer or the reporter who covers your school board meetings. Reporters need to know that you will deal with them with nothing less than complete honesty. Trust is earned, not given, and it works only if it's a reciprocal relationship. In other words, trust your reporters and they will trust you.

Inherent in public education is the fact that we will have some unhappy folks. (Ideally there aren't a lot of them, but they're still out there.) And no one is naïve enough to believe that unhappy people don't call the local media to voice their dissatisfaction with whatever aspect of public schools is driving their unhappiness at the moment.

A district's relationship with the media may very well determine if that petty complaint becomes the front page news or 6 o'clock lead-in — or if it never surfaces at all as a legitimate issue.

It's also helpful to know that reporters are somewhat like children. The one piece of information you tell them they can't have is the one piece of information they'll want. They will climb mountains and forge rivers to get at that itty bitty morsel you won't give them.

Unless you have genuine concerns, like Privacy Act violations, contract negotiations, or personnel confidentiality issues, try not to withhold information from the media. Chances are they'll uncover it anyway, and 99 times out of 100, the information you're concerned about won't make it into a news story.

So, we're not perfect. Show me any organization that is. I believe that public school problems are truly community problems, and we need the community to help us with solutions to those problems. Don't look at a negative news story as an indication of performance — look at it as an opportunity to engage the public and find solutions to the challenges that confront us each and every day in our schools.

As school board members, you are writing policy for public schools and you need the public in order to do that in a meaningful way for your stakeholders. How do you successfully engage the public without the efforts of the media?

Reporters need schooling, too. They can't possibly step into the education beat and know all the complexities of school funding or the logistics of No Child Left Behind. As a school board member, how long did it take you to grasp the foundation funding formula? As you would with a friend, take the time to educate reporters about education. It will be time well spent to enhance accurate reporting.

Give your local media "atta boys" and pats on the back. If a reporter has written an exceptionally good, detailed series on your building referendum, convey your appreciation. A positive story about one of your teachers deserves a "thank you" from the district. Just like any other profession in which we appreciate praise for a job well done, reporting is no different.

Yes, reporters make mistakes. They are, after all, human beings. There's a respectful way to point that out. Yelling, threatening and holding all reporters responsible for the actions of just one person are neither fair nor friendly responses to a legitimate mistake.

Reporters prefer to be accurate in their stories and pointing out errors is helpful to them. To help with accuracy, learn to talk to the media, learn to ask questions of reporters and ask reporters to verify quotes with you before a story runs.

Keep in mind, however, that anything a board member says in public session is fair game, so please don't blame a reporter for quoting you. If you don't want what you just said in the heat of the moment in the newspaper, then don't say it.

Being a school board member is in many ways a thankless task. Being a reporter is very much the same. We criticize and blame them, and often we expect them to read our minds or gather information through some kind of journalistic osmosis.

Your job and theirs will go much more smoothly, not to mention congenially, if you treat the people in the journalistic trades as you would a friend. Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "The best way to have a friend is to be one."