First off, congratulations on the publication or award!
We imagine you'll want to get the word out, and the Rausser College Communications Office offers several options to help promote your news. As soon as you receive notice of award or your publication acceptance, please email Mathew Burciaga mburciaga@berkeley.edu to notify us and start the conversation.
Coverage by UC Berkeley Public Affairs
The News and Media Relations team within UC Berkeley's Office of Communications & Public Affairs covers research through both news stories/press releases, as well as jump posts, which are usually short adaptations that link to a full story/release prepared by a partner institution. A number of factors affect whether the News team will write a press release on your research, including:
- How groundbreaking the finding or development is—or if the content is about an award or grant, how big it is.
- Which journal will publish the research—or which organization is bestowing the award/granting the funding—and whether they issue their own announcement.
- The other stories they are writing and their associated deadlines.
- How much advance notice they have before the publication and/or announcement date.
Communications & Public Affairs is usually more receptive to stories they believe will be clear and engaging for the public, and/or have a likelihood of being covered by a news outlet. Journalists often consider the “news value” of press releases when determining whether to cover a specific development. While elements of newsworthiness differ across publications and within audiences, most publications often weigh the following when considering whether to cover a specific paper:
- Timeliness/Topicality: Is this a newly released study? Can it “hook” into a current event? Does it expand our understanding of an existing issue?
- Impact/Relevance: Who does this affect? How large of a group is it? Will a general (non-research/academic) audience care about the findings?
- Uniqueness: Is this a groundbreaking discovery? A surprising finding? A never-before-documented observation? An anomaly?
- Conflict: Does the study involve some element of conflict? Does it point out an existing problem with the status quo? Offer a new solution to a problem?
- Human Interest: How will this finding affect the human experience? Will it disproportionately affect a group of people?
Coverage by Rausser College
If your research or awards cannot be covered by Communications & Public Affairs, we have options for promoting the news through channels managed by the Rausser College Communications Office. These include:
- Stories or press releases posted to the Rausser College and/or departmental websites.
- Adaptations of external press releases that center on or elevate the contributions of our researchers.
- Roundups of recent external news stories that prominently feature Rausser College community members
- Short news briefs announcing a publication, award, or professional recognition.
- Redirect links to external news stories.
- Posts on college and departmental social media accounts.
Please contact Mathew for more information.