It’s not uncommon for area media outlets to take a national AP story and localize it to your community. For example, a story about federal agencies being targeted in a cyberattack can be localized to how your state or local government is protecting itself.
Unfortunately, those national stories can be negative, and the local media don’t always gather both sides of the tale. Here are some tips for dealing with negative national media coverage on the local level.
First, you may be thinking to issue a press release countering or disputing the claims in the local/statewide article. Unfortunately, the media will probably ignore the release, as they don’t think it is worth their effort to write a follow-up piece just to include your viewpoints. (The media should have done that in the first place.)
For example, let’s say a story revealed the number of teller errors at banks and credit unions nationally. Your local media then run a story showing how many errors occurred in your city or county without contacting any of the banks or credit unions for comment. If your bank or credit union issues a press release stating the meaning of those errors has been overblown, the media likely won’t pick it up.
You also could try to submit a letter-to-the-editor if it’s a print piece, but note that it won’t be very effective at countering the assertions made in the original article.
A better approach would be to use a coordinated effort from the local or statewide trade association and the other businesses in that industry. Develop key messages and then pitch a different story to the media that addresses the original point.
Using the previous example, explain to the media what banks and credit unions are doing to protect their customers’ assets and improve customer service. Perhaps demonstrating things like new cash recyclers that increase security in cash handling would override any negative sentiments about teller errors.
Remember that there are strengths in numbers, in two ways. Using stats/data to help back up your points, and joining with other businesses (yes, your competitors) to form a macro-level story, will help you address negative media coverage on your industry.