Purpose

To establish a uniform process for departments to obtain news coverage for reasons including promotion or the necessity to communicate important changes, in order for the Communications team to manage the details of each request efficiently and with improved turnaround times, in accordance with PPM 310-40 Communications and Technology, University Communications: Publications, Graphic Standards, Marketing, Social Media and Media Relations.

Timeline

A Communications team member will respond to each request within 24 hours of receiving the request, and work with the unit to identify the news value, acceptable publication(s) and timeline.

Services Defined

Good storytelling covers the basics of who, what, when, where and why. The Communications team can help with writing, editing and capturing great visuals that enhance the story to showcase the importance of the news, and bring awareness to the great work occurring in the UC Davis Community. Please be advised that due to the volume of requests received, and time-sensitivity of certain stories, we must use our discretion to prioritize or decline stories accordingly.

News Outlets

There are several UC Davis campus list servs and community publications that may be a good fit for your news. The Communications team can help identify which publications, list servs and groups will be the best fit for your story, and facilitate distribution.

This list is not an exhaustive list of potential outlets. Depending on the story we may recommend partnering with Strategic Communications to pitch additional news outlets.

FOA Weekly Digest

The FOA Weekly Digest shares news stories pertaining to the FOA Division with all FOA employees and senior university leadership, including CODVC, Assistant Deans and other key stakeholders.

Dateline

Dateline is the official employee newspaper for the Davis campus and covers University news, including student, staff and faculty happenings. Anyone who gets a paycheck automatically receives Dateline weekly in their inbox.

Insider

Insider is the official employee newspaper for the Health campus, and covers UC Davis Health news including student, staff and faculty happenings. The Insider daily adds stories online and distributes an email with all stories every Friday.

The California Aggie

The California Aggie is the student-run newspaper for UC Davis and covers all news relevant to students, including campus and faculty changes.

Staff Voice

Staff Voice is the Staff Assembly newsletter and promotes news items pertaining to staff interests and wellbeing. All Staff on the Davis campus receive the publication.

What is Newsworthy?

In order for a story to be considered newsworthy, the story must be timely, significant in that it affects a large number of people, and should have an element of human interest. Below are examples of newsworthy stories that have been published for the UC Davis community:

• Preparing for the Campus’s New Water Supply
• UC Davis Employees Revitalized Thanks to WorkStrong Program
• Learning by Leading: Engaging Students in Outdoor Education

Deadlines

Deadlines are typically a week in advance of the next publication and prior to noon that day.

Procedure

Submit a request for services by emailing FOACommunications@ucdavis.edu. In the request, please provide as much details as possible, including:

• Deadline for the project
• Point of contact for the story