Creatively envision the final story. Because you have invested time thinking about the situation you face and the audiences who will be affected by your news release, you can now begin to creatively envision the final story—even before you know everything about it. You picture the story being picked up by The Beldaire News-Herald, your local newspaper, and running on the front page of its website with a photo of hospital leaders at the clinic site.

 

You think about the overall positive tone of the story, and how much local residents will appreciate a new urgent care clinic downtown. You also envision the story playing out on the Twin Lakes Facebook page, and how you can tweet the story link out to your followers, who will comment positively on it. Just for fun, you brainstorm some possible news leads and jot down a few. Actively learn. That afternoon, you get busy with research and interviewing.

 

After reviewing internal planning documents and blueprints for the clinic, you get out of your office to interview Yolanda Graves, your hospital administrator, along with two physicians who are spearheading the project. Next, you run some online research to review recent media coverage of the hospital and the downtown homeless shelter.

 

Fortunately, the coverage is mostly positive. You pore over the hospital’s Facebook page and community blog postings to get a sense of what people are saying about the new clinic.

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