If controversy is possible, pay attention to not only what you say, but how you say it. Our report makes pointed comparisons about the quality and reliability of specific makes and models of toilets, so we ran it by a university attorney. His job isn't to discourage or prevent researchers from saying anything, but rather to give useful advice on how to say something in a clear and defensible manner. Second, know what the media want and try to help them. Some stories are better suited for print media, others for TV or radio.
TV also requires stories that can be reduced to a couple minutes.
Reduce the gist of your work to a couple sound bites if possible. Third, don't be overly pretentious and believe that you know what the story is, or even what kind of a story it is. That is for the reporters to decide. Our ULF toilet study has been treated as a water resource story, a consumer protection issue, and as news of the bizarre. We were able to refer them to various spokespersons, including an articulate hardware store employee who enjoyed being in front of a camera, a knowledgeable water utility conservation head, and owners of toilets that exhibited certain problems.