Charities can provide programme makers with a window into the lives of real people, giving them new and often compelling ways of seeing the world. In return programme makers can offer charities opportunities to reach large audiences and explore issues in greater depth than our sound bite culture might otherwise allow. But how can charities look beyond news media to these opportunities? This was one of the topics at yesterday's CharityComms seminar.

Sarah Epstein, senior media officer at UNICEF UK, suggested two ways of doing this: piggy backing on the PR and publicity surrounding a relevant programme or by actually trying to get your organisation's message into a programme. UNICEF UK has managed both of these strategies extremely well.

By offering insights into people's lives around the world UNICEF UK became involved in travel documentaries: The Long Way Round and The Long Way Down featuring Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. This enabled them to reach a global TV audience of hundreds of millions and attract a huge amount of media interest and coverage in the DVDs, books etc that went along with the series. They also became involved in Channel 4 docudrama Sex Traffic which coincided with a relevant UNICEF campaign. This time they were involved later in the process- not by attempting to include any of their messages in the production but by forming a joint PR strategy which took the topic beyond entertainment.

So at what point in the production process should charities try to approach programme makers? Obviously you could approach them before the commissioning takes place- with ideas that could form the basis for programmes- but this is time consuming and can amount to nothing. Perhaps it is better to find existing commissions, as UNICEF UK did, and try to tailor your case studies to them. With long running series knowing who to approach can be easy but what about one off productions which are not widely known about until their completion? With this in mind I embarked on some research into how exactly charities can find out about commissioned pieces before production is completed.

After a few calls around to commissioning editors and independent production companies it seems this in not altogether straightforward as they fiercely guard their ideas from competitors.

Perhaps the best way to find out about opportunities is to forge relationships with programme makers. Sarah Epstein points out- if you like a documentary, you are more than likely going to like something they do future- therefore make contact with them, tell them you liked their work and offer them your case studies. To find out more about what different production companies have produced check their websites, Century Film's is good: www.centuryfilmsltd.com
Failing this I found some helpful websites including www.broadcastnow.co.uk which offers a section dedicated to commissioning news. There is also the Pact directory-www.pact.co.uk (although you have to be a member to access information on programmes in development). A directory of production companies and directors can be found on: www.dfgdocs.com.

If you don't find out about the programme until it hits the schedules don't lose heart- things are often repeated providing more PR opportunities.

Emma Wickenden
CharityComms coordinator

It never ceases to amaze me how blinkered we can be. We get comfortable in our bunkers and stop looking around for new ways to do our job.

What has gotten me so incensed is the failure of the sector to make use of online PR opportunities. A small but high profile charity client has just launched a new site. They sent out a standard press release to the 'usual subjects', all offline media. They failed to send the release to any online press.

Most large news organisations now have two sets of editorial staff; print and web. They may add print stories to the web, but they also produce a whole range of online news which never goes to print.

Perhaps even more important is the fact that they have a very limited amount of space in print, but unlimited space online. So they are far more likely to publish something online than offline.

Add to this the plethora of online news magazines which specialise in web news and it seems that we are missing a huge opportunity to publicise at least our online stories to these online media.

All of the major newspapers, TV and radio stations have websites. Whatever your niche; international, national or local, there are online editors to target.

Almost all magazines have web news, from 'water active' to 'mens health' to 'nursery world', so again; whatever your niche there will be websites who will publish if they think it suits their audience .

And finally the e-magazines. There are dozens, and all of them run charity sections and stories. The better known include Third Sector, Marketing Week, PR Week, Brand Republic, Precision Marketing and Professional Fundraising. The e-zines include CharityComms, MAD, NMA, Revolution, Response Source Community Newswire and UK Fundraising.

Then there are the social media/techie sites, so if you have used technology in an exciting way try bcs.org, netimperative.com, vnunet.com and site like webware.com and socialmediaportal.com.

Whatever you have PR about take advantage of the vast array of websites out there and publicise your organisation online as well as offline.

Sue Fidler

I was out last week with two BBC documentary producers and a Channel 4 camerawoman, and we were talking about what makes a good interview.

All three of my dining partners were dismayed that, the day before, I had been at a mental health charity training its staff on how to give good broadcast interviews.

"Don't train them!" said one BBC producer. "We much prefer the conversation to be natural; it makes for better radio."

"It's horrible when someone comes to an interview, already knowing what they want to say," said another. "The listener isn't served that way."

It's a mantra in good media relations -often parroted by myself- that charity communications staff should work hard to give journalists exactly what they want. Meet their deadlines, give them the information they need, give them something to film, put up your best spokesperson, and smile sweetly even if they fail to name check your organisation - again. After all, the journo isn't going to bend over backwards for you.

I wonder whether that applies to not doing interview training?

I think good charity media interviews are, at least in part, about preparing your key messages, and then ensuring you get at least some of those messages across in the interview. That approach, say broadcast journalists, makes the interview stagnant and boring.

My response is that we're just doing our job. A broadcast journalist's commitment is to listeners or viewers, to make the most informative and entertaining programme they can.

A charity communicator's job is different: to get OUR message across in the most effective way possible.

Sometimes that coincides with the journalist's aim. Sometimes journalists give us sufficient air time to really debate and develop the issues with the audience.

But more often they want pithy and short sound bites, or they give us 10 seconds to sum up our issue. With that much room to manoeuvre, we have to get our issue across in the space we've been given: and that means key messaging.

It's our job to get those key messages across, even if it does make cruddy radio.

PS. The BBC does have some fantastic resources - aimed at its own journalists - that are particularly useful for charity communicators.

BBC Training and Development
Free online courses, aimed at the BBC's journalists but just as useful for us. Find out how THEY train to ask the questions in interviews, or what THEY learn about good camera angles.

BBC Producers Guidelines
So revealing my journalist friends said it shouldn't be made available to the likes of us. Find out how BBC journalists are obliged to tell both sides of the story, how they have to give your issue fair treatment, how they should treat contributors and more.

BBC Style Guide
So is it 'the Government', or just 'Government', or even 'government'? The BBC Style Guide is your ultimate resource for checking spelling, clichés, that you've got collective nouns right, that you're avoiding jargon and also avoiding those wonderful superlatives. There's no better free download to print off and use on a daily basis.

Gideon Burrows is editor of ngo.media, a copywriting agency for charities

Over the coming weeks you will notice blog posts from a host of different people. That's because askCHARITY is inviting guests from the voluntary sector and beyond to blog about charity communications.

Tomorrow we will hear from Gideon Burrows, editor of ngo.media- a media consultancy which works exclusively with organisations with social aims. With years of journalistic experience on publications such as Guardian Society, The Times Educational Supplement, Third Sector and New Statesman, Gideon will be offering his unique perspective on media-charity relations.

The following week well known technical expert Sue Fidler will be sharing her thoughts with readers of the askCHARITY blog. Combining 15 years of IT, database and internet experience from the charity and corporate sectors Sue is working with charities to improve their use and understanding of the opportunities that technology offers the sector.

Our guest blogger in four weeks time is Joe Saxton. Joe is chair and founder of CharityComms. In his day job Joe is driver of ideas and co-founder of specialist research consultancy nfpSynergy. He is also chair of the Institute of Fundraising and People and Planet.

Last but not least Norma Johnston, director of CharityComms, will be our fourth guest blogger. Norma's communications experience spans over 20 years during which she has worked in magazine journalism, global charity communications and corporate PR. Norma has worked as Communications Director for Amnesty International UK as well as for Plan- an international children's development agency.

Hope you enjoy our guest blogger series.

Best wishes

Emma Wickenden
CharityComms coordinator/ askCHARITY