June 15, 2000
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Most of this talk so far has dealt with how to be interviewed, but now I'm going to switch gears a bit and deal with the possibility that you may want to take it a step further and become a regular press contact. That is, you make a point of seeking out journalists so you can be known as a source of opinions and information on topics of interest to you. There are a lot of concerns you could have about this: whether you feel you can fairly represent others, how to tread that fine line between advancement of your cause and advancement of yourself, and simply whether you have the temperment for the work. These are all legitimate concerns, but they're also very personal and subjective, so there's not much point in me addressing them — I'll just discuss how to go about it if you decide you want to.
If you do decide to make yourself a press contact, there's one overriding principle to keep in mind: A journalist's scarcest resource is time. Journalism tends to be extremely time-sensitive work, because there are so many deadlines, and because news happens whenever it feels like it. This holds true for local television, for weekly alternative newspapers, and monthly magazines: I once received an e-mail from an editor at a monthly magazine that said "Yes, let's do that story; by the way, can you have it in by tomorrow morning?"
Also, keep in mind that if you're dealing with somebody who's trying to make a living as a freelancer, e's eir own boss, which means e always has to watch the clock. Most freelancers don't make enough money where they can afford to be leisurely about their work, and after a couple of years as a freelancer, they learn to get as much story as possible out of as few hours as possible.
Not all sources are created equal. Journalists remember the sources that are good to them, and by "good to them", I mean they give the most usable story material in the shortest period of time. And if they like you as a source once, the chances are good they'll look you up the next time they have a similar story. Some of being a good source involves being a good interview subject, as we just discussed. Some of it comes from being a good contact, which you can do in a number of ways.