Firearm User Network

Victory! We broke the media blackout! So, what was the response?!?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

After whining about a media blackout, complaining about a raw deal and then being shown that this was just poor perception and that the local media would work with his shooting range, all interest was lost.

Notice I asked very specific, answerable questions about club size, participation and the like. Not a single answer. This haphazard, complete lack of organization is a major problem. No idea how many members and what sort of interest is being generated. No press releases or links to a web site were offered, or details of any form of organized events, likely because there were none. Any wonder why media people didn’t care? If there is no story to cover and nothing interesting of note, why are we surprised when no story appears?

I did the research. I handed this guy a specific name, title, email and phone number of an editor willing to publish his press releases at the very publication claimed to have a “media blackout” against gun owners. After that, he went silent. I guess he just wanted his blackout to be there, hidden behind an evil cabal. When instead he had the name and contact info of a real person willing to talk, interest ceased. The fact that the club had some controversy made a story even more potentially appealing. But, no. Do nothing, then blame the media for your problems.

Despite myths to the contrary, pro-gun coverage can be done:

>> The local media has a blackout on *any* shooting information. As in, it refuses to print anything about any shooting events at *any* range *anywhere*. The county newspaper is the best bet for any releases, but they’ve turned anti in recent years. They have told me that by policy they aren’t printing anything relating to shooting or hunting any more.

Yes, that’s your claim. I did a little research and found articles printed about your range’s incident in two papers: The Bainbridge Island Review (the local island paper) and The Sun in Bremerton, Washington (the local county paper.)

Seeing as you said that “by policy they [The Sun] aren’t printing anything relating to shooting or hunting any more” I thought I would ask for myself. Contact info was prominently displayed from a link on top of the home page at their website.

Subject: local sports events

I help run sports clubs and would like to know your policy on printing event notices and press releases for local events and participants. I’m specifically interested in shooting sports, safety and training classes, etc. Thanks! John Buol

Here was their response:

RE: local sports events
Hi John! We’ll gladly run your event notices and other information on our weekly Outdoors page, which hits the streets every Thursday. E-mail any of that type information to our outdoors guru, [name and email withheld for posting]

Thanks for your interest,
[Name, phone, and email withheld for pulic online posting]
Sports Editor The Sun Bremerton, Washington

I don’t know what “policy” prevented notices in the past, but it looks like you have an “in.” Exploit it! Send info on every newsworthy even you run. Create events if you have to.

Hint: “Dinners” and meetings probably are not newsworthy. Matches, classes, and similar events are.

Do it yourself, hire an assistant, or affiliate with an organization that does it for you. Do it for at least eight events a year for the next three to five years.

Victory! We broke the media blackout! So, what was the response?!?

>> [Pro-gun information] only appears in shooting-related newsletters.

What percentage of area gun owners receive these newsletters? What percentage of these local recipients are members of your club? What percentage of the club members participate in club events regularly?

>> Define “blackout.” As in, it refuses to print anything about any shooting events at *any* range *anywhere*. It is hard to deny that there is bias against the NRA, gun owners and the shooting sports.

Rule of thumb: A statement suggesting something is always true all the time is usually false. True absolutes like this rarely exist. Here’s an an example.

The NRA spent a bunch of money to have the Media Research Center (http://www.mediaresearch.org) conclude that media gun bias exists. The report specifically labelled ABC’s “Good Morning America” and host Diane Sawyer among the worst offenders.

Around the same time this study was conducted a shooting school offering free submachine gun shooting lessons managed to get numerous positive stories aired and printed in mainstream media sources, such as ABC’s “Good Morning America” (with Sawyer herself introducing the piece), NBC’s “Special Edition”, the New York Times, LA Times, London Times, UPN, and the BBC.

That organization turned to media outlets only after the NRA steadfastly refused to carry these same stories in its publications. They earned press by following a process that the NRA doesn’t do for its membership.

The process of effective promotion is:

1. Do something interesting.
2. Tell people about it.
3. Repeat.

>> Press Releases are no good if nobody sees them.

Not necessarily. The editor sees it. No publicist gets *everything* published, which is why they think in terms of campaigns. If you’re consistently sending well-written material, at worst, they know you’re serious. Many clubs aren’t taken seriously as a well-run organization because they don’t do anything to appear they are a well-run organization.

If you’ve been promoting things well you’ll have dozens of samples. Why don’t you submit a few samples so we can see what you’ve been up to? Unless you’ve never bothered to promote anything, in which case your lack of pro gun stories is due to failing on one of the three steps above (or all three.)

>> The local media has a blackout on *any* shooting information. As in, it refuses to print anything about any shooting events at *any* range *anywhere*. They stopped printing information about public events such as dinners, ever since a newcomer went a few years ago and was offended by seeing animal heads on the wall.

An effective PR campaign requires two releases (a pre-event announcement and post-event follow-up) for each event. Unless you can tell me that your club is running at least eight news-worthy events a year, that you’ve sent two pieces of well written publicity for each event to every media outlet in a reasonable driving radius, and that you’ve been doing this consistently for more than three years, your local “media blackout” may be perceived rather than real.

>> The local newspapers are: The local rag (rabidly anti-gun), the county newspaper (somewhat anti gun) and the state newspapers (rabidly anti gun.) Yesterday, the local island paper carried an editorial calling for the club to be ejected on the grounds that the club “brought a tiger into our peace-loving community” and it’s the club’s fault that “the tiger escaped.”

>> Never mind that the club has been there decades before any of those homes, or that the homes have a covenant on their deeds stating that the owner knows that there’s a shooting range nearby and accepts that fact. They also claim that nobody needs such a powerful gun as a 9mm Glock…

>> The county newspaper is the best bet for any releases, but they’ve turned anti in recent years. They have told me that by policy they aren’t printing anything relating to shooting or hunting any more.

Hmmm, seems pretty clear. Maybe this is a case of anti-gun censorship? A true media blackout? Maybe not….