HELP! Differentiating Between News Tips, Advocacy and Promotion for New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound

Dear Reader,

As Talk of the Sound has continued to grow, I am inundated each day with news tips, requests for intervention, requests for advocacy, promotions and press releases. Of course, one person’s news tip is another person’s press release so it can be difficult to sort out one from the other. As the emails and phone messages pile up, I get people complaining that “their” information is not getting my attention and not making its way onto the site.

I very much appreciate getting any communication from readers with news, information, tips, event information, promotions and press releases — as long as it is NewRo-Centric. The site is called TALK of the Sound for a reason, the site is meant to be a virtual water-cooler around which New Rochelleans can gather and discuss topics of of the day.

Even the term “NewRo-Centric” is more art than science as there are Federal, State, County and Regional issues that impact New Rochelle in various ways. The best way I can put it is if someone has a story about a tree that is sprouting leaves that turn to gold but the tree is in Mamaroneck than it is not a Talk of the Sound story. If a new park bench is installed in City Park that is a Talk of the Sound story. Basically, I treat New Rochelle like an island so as to keep the site focused on its niche.

There is nowway I can check all of the tips I receive in a timely manner. I may or may not be able to work on a particular news tips or, if I do, it may be some time before I get around to it, or it may fit within a larger story that is currently in the works that I cannot discuss. In either case, I want to encourage you to continue to send along news tips while making you aware of my constraints in responding to every news tip.

The good news is that Talk of the Sound provides the means for anyone to publish news and information relevant to New Rochelle. If you can send an email you can publish a blog post. It’s easier than you think.

Step 1. Register

Step 2. Follow the instructions in our FAQ How to Submit a Blog Post Directly to Talk of the Sound Using Your Web Browse

Step 3. There is no Step 3, you are done. Told you it was easy 🙂

Some things to consider:

A. To get people interested, make sure to write a good headline. Read How to Write a Good Title for Your Blog Post.

B. If you become a regular contributor you will want to consider using Blog Editing software as it will greatly simplify submitting an article.

C. Where possible, take photos, shoot video or gather records and provide those as well. A cell phone/smart phone image or video will often work well. As long as you are in a public place and/or there is no expectation of privacy you may take photos or shoot video. You can add photos to your article but it might be confusing at first so send me the photos/videos and I will walk you through how to do it until you get the hang of it.

When it comes to Photos and Video, Know Your Rights.

From time to time, police or security guards or other lower-level security and law enforcement officials will try to tell you that you cannot take pictures or video in a public place. They are misinformed. Unless there is a posted notice, you may take photos.

A final note for those with press releases. Please send all press releases to pressreleases@newrochelletalk.com only. I will be monitoring that inbox 7 times a day. If you want to communicate directly to me as a person and not my site as a news outlet use robertcox@newrochelletalk.com. I appreciate NOT getting press releases as attachments. I wrote an article about it:

A Heartfelt Plea to Public Relations Professionals: Please Stop Sending Out Microsoft Word Email Attachments as Press Releases!

Thanks

Robert Cox
Managing Editor
New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound

Phone: 914-500-8386
Email: robertcox@newrochelletalk.com
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/talkofthesound