And when a journalist calls a public information office to reach a researcher, the officer should give the researcher's phone number, and should attempt to transfer the call, saving the journalist a second call. Particularly enlightened PIOs will even contact their colleagues at other institutions to help journalists if their scientists can't. They know that such effective service makes subsequent calls from writers far more likely. Public information usually involves both publicity and promotion. These are considered synonymous by some but differ significantly in the eyes of the news media.
Publicity is intended to give information about events as they occur.
For example, the most widely recognized news peg for a science story is publication of the research in a refereed journal or delivery of a paper on the work at a major scientific meeting. This kind of material sometimes has a news peg but often does not. Promotional messages, such as appeals for money, should not be sent to the science writer, but to the managing or city editors of newspapers and the public-service staff of radio and television stations. Nor should it be posted on internet news services or news groups. Return to the Communicating Science News contents page.