Los Angeles is considered one of the largest melting pots in the U.S., with ethnicities ranging from Mexican to Chinese to African American. With dozens of media outlets in Los Angeles tailored to specific ethnic groups, it’s important to know how to incorporate strategic communication for each one. At a breakfast panel hosted by the Public Relations Society of America – Los Angeles, several reporters, editors and journalism experts from various Los Angeles ethnic publications shared their expertise regarding what gets their attention and what doesn’t.
The common thread amongst all the panelists was that they choose to run stories that relate to their audience. The first questions they ask are: How does this relate to our community, and how many members of our community does it affect? Different than most local media outlets that cater to any news in the city, they provide news and articles with an angle that their Korean, Black, Asian, or Hispanic community wants to read and watch. Below are a few tips when pitching to various ethnic media outlets:
- DO use keywords in the headline. Proper communication in your subject line is imperative for getting your story noticed. Right away, these reporters are looking for certain keywords, such as Korean, Black, Asian, Spanish, etc. that indicate how the story is relatable to their beat. Without these keywords inserted into the headline or subject line, your story may get lost in the other hundreds of emails they receive.
- DON’T use Google translate. While some public relations professionals may think that translating a release to a certain language will help the reporter, it often doesn’t. Google translate doesn’t always translate properly and could just cause confusion. It is safer to send your news in English.
- DO specify the section you want them to consider the story for. Whether the story fits into the education section of Korea Daily, the LA Watts supplement of the Los Angeles Times, or the Mandarin news segment of LA 18 news channel, let the reporter know right off the bat where this story goes. It not only shows that you understand their publication and beat, but it takes a lot of the guesswork out for reporters.
