Get the media to cover your initiative - publicizing initiatives and referendum issues

There is nothing quite like that ugly moment when it becomes clear that no one has decided to cover your well-planned, perfectly placed and heavily-noticed ("Yes, I made the follow-up calls!") news conference on your initiative.

Initiatives are not always great news stories. They can be complicated and deal with obscure or technical issues and they don't often carry the star power of candidate campaigns.

Still, you have to get coverage! Here are five tips on how to improve your chances of getting a little news media attention focused on your easy-to-ignore initiative campaign:

1. Start early. It has all the glamour and luxury of being a traveling salesman, but one of the most valuable components of media efforts are "backgrounders."

Backgrounders come in the hot summer months, well before any voter is thinking about what he or she may see on the ballot in November. Quite literally, they mean packing up the car with news kits and hitting the road with stops at every daily newspaper in the state. Along the way, hit TV assignment editors and the news directors at news/talk radio stations.

The goal is not to inspire a story, though frequently that happens anyway. The goal is to get reporters and editors aware of the initiative and your perspective on it. Backgrounders also allow you to establish personal contact with reporters who will cover the initiative.

2. The Messenger is the Message. You won't have many chances to appear on the local TV news. Don't blow your one shot by giving in to local politicians who pressure you to let them be the star. The 45-second story on your issue won't inspire voters if they think it is the same old politicians saying the same old thing.

Proposition 167 in California was dubbed the "Tax-the-Rich" initiative by its authors. For the "No" campaign our leading Southern California spokeswoman was a Democratic storefront restaurant owner in Hollywood who spoke forcefully about the effect these new taxes would have on her small business. This tactic changed voter pre-conceptions about who would suffer from the initiative.

3. Be creative. When you keep throwing your news media events out there and they just get thrown back, it begins to feel like you're banging your head against the wall. However, such moments can be the start of something big!

It was during a late night session at a local watering hole when a great news conference idea for Yes on 111 & 108 (gas tax increase and bonds for mass transit and road projects) was born.

With the help of the Los Angeles City Department of Transportation, we created a list of the ten worst pothole-ravaged streets in the city and dubbed the event "The Pothole that Ate Los Angeles." We found a vacant lot on the worst street with two huge potholes conveniently located just in front of it.

The news conference had a sellout crowd with news crews laughing and joking about the idea when they arrived. Many voters heard for the first time that night that money from 111 & 108 would fill potholes in their streets.

4. Localize. Former House Speaker Tip O'Neill was right when he said "all politics is local." And so is all political coverage. You must find the right messenger and location in each community.

5. Weekends. You might be unpopular with the rest of the staff, but weekend news conferences often generate coverage for initiatives because other news is "slow." On the weekend, your competition for media attention is likely to consist of the Strawberry Jam Festival and an Elvis impersonator contest. By comparison, you'll look like real news.

Scott MacDonald is communications director with Burlingame, CA-based Woodward & McDowell, consultants who specialize in I&R campaigns.

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