ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW OTRP RESOURCES

As new resources are posted on OTRP, I will try to give more information about what they contain than the brief description included at the site link. I will start with the resource most recently posted and then work backward in time. I hope these longer looks at the resources will tempt you to read the entire documents and find ways to use them in your classes or your professional life.

Four authors, William Altman, Jill Shulz, Kenneth Bordens, and Rhea Farberman, have collaborated to share their knowledge of how to work with local media in order to produce effective communication with the general public about psychology. The resource stems from a preconference workshop they delivered at the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (Jan., 2008). Called "Taking it to the Streets: How to Give Psychology Away and Become a Local Media Hero," the 13-page document outlines guidelines for developing effective relationships with various media,  including newspapers, radio and television news or feature programs, and the internet. It is organized into 10 sections:

1. Get to Know the Media and Media Staff


2. Match your Stories to Their Needs


3. How to Prepare for an Interview or Pitch


4. How to Pitch a Story


5. Become the Perfect Source


6. If You Would Rather Write


7. Make it Easy for Media Professionals to Work with You


8. Links to More Information about Working with the Media


9. About Electronic Media (Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts )


10. Clips of Psychology Stories from Various Media

Although the resource is a series of bulleted points, it reads well, and the format allows the user to find information quickly. We have posted a pdf for those who want to easily print the document, but we also provide a link to Altman's internet site where the same 10 sections are separately presented and where the embedded links are live.

The authors do not directly address how teachers could use the information in classes, but if you include mass communication topics in your classes, you might want to share the resource directly with students or create assignments using the final section: sample clips of media stories.


Our journal, Teaching of Psychology, has published a few articles illustrating such assignments (e.g., Lawson, 1994; Rider, 1992; Schwarzmueller, 2006), so this new resource would provide students with a perspective on the constraints under which the media and psychologists operate.


The OTRP post is available at  http://www.apadiv2.org/otrp/resources/resources.php?category=Media


The internet site for this resource is http://web.sunybroome.edu/~altman_w/Bill_Projects/Working_with_the_Media/Psychologists_and_the_Media.htm

References


Lawson, T. J. (1994). The media assignment: Enhancing psychology students' ability to apply their knowledge of psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 21, 157-159.

Rider, E. A. (1992). Understanding and applying psychology through use of news clippings. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 161-163.

Schwarzmueller, A. (2006) Critiquing media depictions of forensic professionals: A project for students. Teaching of Psychology, 33, 205-207.