How to tell your story in the newspaper

“Feeling Sequimish”
Mark Couhig
Contact Mark at mcouhig@sequimgazette.com
Mark Couhig has been a writer for more than 50 years.
His first experience with the written word arrived at a very early age when he was required to painstakingly hand-trace dotted lines in a notebook, a process that led first to a mastery of the straight, purely angular letters of the English alphabet. He soon turned his attention to the curved letters, exhibiting a full proficiency in that skill by the end of his seventh year.
Before another year had passed, Couhig had begun to cluster letters into meaningful compositions, an accomplishment for which he was awarded a coveted gold star, the first-ever public acknowledgement of his extraordinary aptitude with words.
In time he would take these words and strategically create further clusters, which he called “sentences.”
Paragraphs soon followed.
In the third grade Couhig learned the skill of cursive writing, allowing him to greatly expand and accelerate his output.
Over the ensuing months and years Couhig’s now-renown facility for dramatic narrative developed. He was able to work the delicate filigree of fiction — dramatic, purposeful action that engages the reader — to a degree that astonished Ms. Sweeney, his teacher and mentor. Of one of Couhig’s early works, “Run, Tom, Run,” she wrote, “I’m so proud of you.”
As his facility with words grew, so too did his worldview, aided in part by his assiduous readings of “The Weekly Reader,” which he continues to regard as a formative influence in his later, more mature works.
In the fifth grade, Couhig’s repertoire and love of the written word translated to a sterling turn on the stage as Shepherd No. 3 in a new and dynamic dramatic reading of the Gospel According to Luke, a popular work of the time.
Approximately 50 years later Couhig moved to Sequim where he writes a blog.

How to tell your story in the newspaper

Published on Tue, Jul 17, 2012
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As a newspaper reporter, I often find myself interacting with people who often interact with newspaper reporters.

I'm often surprised at how bad they are at it. Especially the politicians.

And then there are the novices, the folks who virtually never speak on the record with a reporter. They are even more uncertain as to the rules.

Here are a few tips for getting your story in the paper, and having it told (to the degree possible) the way you would prefer it to be told.

1) Newspaper reporters are supposed to be completely objective. We aren't.

For example, all things being equal we would prefer to live in a society that is peaceful and prosperous. In our collective estimation, violence and poverty can't hold a candle to those two.

That's why virtually every mainstream newspaper provides "good news" — the kind of news that will promote peace and prosperity, from heartwarming stories of charity and courage to the opening of a new business, or a feature on a business that has a new and innovative product or service.

If you have one of those stories, don't hesitate to contact someone at your local newspaper. Not me, of course, but someone.

Do not treat the reporter as if you're doing him a favor. Don't tell the reporter how she must cover your story.

If you get your story in the paper, say thank you. It's easy. That's why God invented the e-mail.

Unless it is libelous, don't complain.

Your purpose is to continue working with the reporter, who because of your kindness and good manners will seek to further aid you in your efforts.

2) Never, ever, ever say, "I'm thinking about putting an ad in the paper. Could you write a story to go along with it?" Or similarly, "I'm sure you've seen our ad in the paper. Can you do a story on us?"

Reporters love advertising because (this is where that whole "objectivity" thing again comes into question) we prefer to get paid for our work. Given the opportunity, we also like to hang onto our jobs, and to do that our jobs have to exist.

That said, we hate tying advertising directly to a story. It's in our Levi's®.

If you're doing all the business you want to do, and making all the profits you can stand, you may want to ensure you don't show up in the newspaper. In that case, be sure to tell the reporter how much you spend advertising in his newspaper. If possible, do as many do and inflate the figure by, oh, 50 percent.

3) With a very few exceptions, you should never offer anything free to a reporter. Not a stick of gum from your new gum store or a beer from your new beer store. The exceptions are those services or products the reporter will be writing about, e.g., a glass of wine or two from your new winery (the minimum required); or a trail ride on your new horseback adventure.

4) If you are an elected official, assume the reporter with whom you are speaking is skeptical and is seeking an opening for a good, juicy story.

That isn't unfair; it's what we do.

Or maybe it is unfair; but it's nevertheless what we do. If you want fair, you have entered the wrong field.

If you feel you were treated unfairly in a story, there is a solution. Simply say, "I don't believe that is quite accurate. I know you value accuracy in your reporting, so I just want to tell you that A did not say B to C."

End the conversation with: "Thank you for your hard work on this story. I look forward to working with you in the future."

Repeat as required. (I didn't say it was an easy or perfect solution.)

Never refuse to speak to a reporter who was "unfair."

And whatever you do, never go over the reporter's head to complain.

If you can't grasp that, at least grasp this: at the very, very least, never mention to the person to whom you've gone when venturing over the reporter's head how much you spend on advertising in the newspaper.

5) The best way to disarm a reporter is by spilling everything. I grew up in Louisiana, where the politicians have all undergone guiltectomies. Neither do they fear reprisals — e.g., losing the next election — simply because they were caught with their pants down.

Instead they each time simply say, "Yeah, I did that. Geez, I'm sorry."

And then they (this is important) follow it up with a joke, preferably one that is slightly off-color.

The whole jiu-jitsu thing leaves reporters despairing.

That's because the cover-up, as they say, is almost always worse than the original error.

To that end, let me add one more item (if you don't learn anything else today, remember this): When a reporter asks for information from a public official, only two things can happen. a) They can get the information, which is good or b) They can be denied the information, which is VERY GOOD.