By Katie Krauss (katie@critpath.org)

1.   Educate yourself about the issue so that you know what you are talking about.

2.   Plan what you want to say in advance: choose the three or four most important points you want to get across. It can help to write them down on a small piece of paper that you carry with you.  

3.   Rehearse what you want to say out loud, so that you can identify problems.  

4.   It can be effective to speak from your direct experience, or the experience of people you know.  

5.   Speak plainly, from the heart.  People watching you on T.V. or reading  your comment in the newspaper probably don't know anything about your issue.  Tell them about it.  

6.   Speak in "sound bites" - little, five-to-ten second sentences that condense what  you want to say.  Long sentences won't make it onto television or radio, and they may not make it into the newspapers, either.  

7.   When asked to give an interview, you can ask the reporter to wait while you gather your thoughts.  Then you can take a deep breath and review what you want to say in your mind.  

8.   Slowly give your name and the name of your organization to the reporter. Spell them out, if asked.  

9.   Say what you want to say, not what the reporter is trying to get you to say. Try to answer  questions so that you get to say what you decided ahead of time was important.  

10. Use your own words.  Now is not the time to try out words you never used before in your life.  Speak slowly.  

11. If you are talking to a TV reporter, speak to the reporter, not the camera.  

12. Be friendly and polite, but maintain your dignity. The reporter is not your friend, he or she is just a person trying to do a job.  Even friendly reporters sometimes distort news stories and do other things that will make you unhappy.   

13. Be polite, even if the reporter is not.  

14. Everything is on the record.  

15. Share the limelight. The media is just a tool that we use to get information out about our issue or problem.  Share it.  

16. How it all turns out is out of our hands.  Don't worry too much about that, but do your homework about the issue and plan what you want to say ahead of time to minimize the chance that you will say something you wish you hadn't.

(Feel free to copy, but use this document in its entirety and with attribution.)