24MediaLabs.com - 24 Media Labs - Science Communications Agency

News Package Production

Ready to promote your new academic paper? Ready to communicate your science in the media. You have two options:

Option 1: Write a press release and try to get it in front of a journalist or writer. In our experience this is a very hit and miss affair. They receive 100's per day.

Option 2: Produce a News Package for The Alternative Science News Service (ASNS). This is a new approach to promoting science in the media and, we believe, one that will be much more effective than a press release approach.

Not sure what this is? Read on and we'll tell you. You can produce this yourself or we can help you produce one for your new academic publication. You can find the rates for this here.

What is a News Package?

News Packages on the ASNS are designed to help journalists and writers build stories about scientific discoveries that are accurate, interesting and reflective of what has happened.

You can get many more details on the requirements for news packages here (at the ASNS).

What goes in a News Package?

• Package Summary - This includes an eye catching headline, a short summary and a short description of why it is news or worth featuring in the media.
• Why is this news? - You should clearly explain why you believe your package is newsworthy.
• The Journal Article - Your news package is about a (soon to be) published journal article or even a series of published journal articles. You must include access to the original journal article(s). We recommend that you publish your paper in a journal that either provides open access or allows you (as a researcher) to self archive your paper on an institutional website or similar service.
• Images, Multimedia, Video - As a minimum you must provide an image to accompany the package. This should adequately illustrate the topic of your package. Enhanced content (e.g. video, picture galleries, audio, infographics) will make your package more attractive to the media.
• Interview - An interview with the (lead) author should be included in the package. This can be written or audio.
• ‘Before the Headlines’ Analysis - Evidence based analysis of the science designed to help journalists understand fully the facts and the fiction.
• 'The Crystal Ball' Analysis - Provides the vision of the scientist and what it could mean in the future. This content will be flagged to journalists as forward looking statements and is designed to clearly seperate fact from fiction.

Want to see an example of a News Package? See here (@ The ASNS)

Other Services

Want to find out more about the Alternative Science News Service? More details here.

Ready to publish your news package? Visit the Alternative Science News Service for full instructions.

Not quite ready? No problems. Just get in contact with us and we can help produce it for you.

Not produced an academic paper yet? We can help you here too. Let us worry about the words and phrases. You get on with the science!