Press Office

From Pirate Party UK Wiki

This page is for the internal organisation of the Pirate Party UK Press Office. For official press releases, please go to http://www.pirateparty.org.uk/press/. Contact the press office at press@pirateparty.org.uk.

The Press Office is responsible for promoting the Pirate Party UK in the media and responding to general requests for information about the party, and is run by the press team on behalf of the Campaigns Officer.

Workflow is organised on the talk page.

How the office works

The press team usually discusses everything in either the mailing list or IRC, although Skype may occasionally be involved. Most things are written collaboratively with the office's PiratenPad. The status of everything that is currently being worked should be recorded on the talk page.

Releases

Releases are based on current events that the party should comment on or things that the party has done. To start a release, create a new pad and update the talk page. You may also want to use the mailing list or IRC to let the rest of the team know you're writing a release and to get their help quickly.

Before sending a release, use the checklist to make sure it's suitable to send.

Contact Duke to send press releases and to post it on the website.

Responses

When a request is sent to the press office, start a pad and update the talk page. You may also want to use the mailing list or IRC to let the rest of the team know you're writing a release and to get their help quickly, particularly if there is a tight deadline.

Before sending a response, use the checklist to make sure it's suitable to send.

In some cases, getting other members involved is unnecessary (i.e. when only one liners or stock responses are required). Use common sense when dealing with requests.

Pad Ettiquette: When joining a draft PiratenPad to help with a release, please pick a colour that is unique to your with respect to the other contributors, and please post at least one message in the chat window so we can identify members. Please make sure you do not use the Press Office account accidentally.

Note that when the contribution colours on the main text are cleared, the draft is published or is being published. Any changes made after this point will be added as soon as possible, but may not be noticed. Important ones should be brought to the attention of a Press Office admin.

Press Officer

Pirate Party UK seeks to maintain a high media profile to promote digital rights, civil liberties and our broad manifesto. Since the press team has been formed we have had appearances on BBC, CNN, ITN, Russia Today, in the Guardian, FHM, Vice, TorrentFreak, Wired, the Metro, the Daily Mail, Le Monde to name but a few. The Press Officer is the first port of call for the rest of the world getting in touch with Pirate Party UK. The Press Officer will be able to manage work professionally with top level contacts. Anyone taking on this role should be prepared for periods of high activity, and being at the centre of some of the most controversial issues in contemporary politics.

PO Job Specification

Press team

Joining

To join the press team, apply to join the mailing list. If it is not immediately clear from your email who you are or if you're a party member, you will be emailed to confirm your identity. It would also be helpful if you could introduce yourself in the relevant forum thread.

External communication

Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that your email is ready for the outside world:

1. Are you sending from press@pirateparty.org.uk?
2. Are you using the standard Press Team email footer?
3. Have all internal mailing list footers been removed?
4. Have all internal e-mail addresses been removed?
5. Have all text/commentary not intended for release been removed?
6. Are all recipients BCC'd? (So as not to give out mailing list.)
7. Is the e-mail plain text only, with appropriate soft line breaks? (Many mail clients handle HTML mail poorly or inconsistently. Some organisations have a policy of disabling HTML mail on all incoming messages for security reasons.)
8. Have you double-checked that all desired text is included, and that it is correctly formatted?

If you're sending a release, use this checklist as well:

1. Does the e-mail contain a link to the PDF version (template)?
2. Does the e-mail contain a link to the web version?
3. If the release is embargoed, is the embargo highlighted within the first 3 lines of the e-mail body?

Standard email footer

Local offices

During an election, candidates are recommended to have local press offices specifically for their constituency. This is because it is difficult for the geographically diverse national office to send releases to local media and write responses on behalf of particular candidates without close, continuous contact. If it is not possible for a candidate to put together a local office, the nearest press team member will be assigned directly to them.

Local offices can request advice, assistance and national release from the press office at any time by email.

Contacts

There is a full list of national press contacts available. During an election, local press offices are advised to maintain a list of local contacts on their constituency's campaign page.