LP COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
REPORT

TO:	Libertarian National Committee, Inc. August 25-26, 2001 * Las Vegas, Nevada
FROM:	Bill Winter, LP Director of Communications George Getz, Press Secretary Jonathan Trager, Staff Writer

* MEDIA ACTION PLAN:

As I mentioned in my Communications Report at the last LNC meeting in April, George Getz and I embarked on a "mini-strategic planning process" to try to develop techniques to attract more media attention for the party this year.

We started out with 43 ideas, and winnowed them down to a Top 12, based on how easy they would be to implement; how successful we thought they might be; and how "urgent" the implementation was (that is, some needed to be done first in order to do others later). Our "Top 12" list of projects/strategies to implement (with the ones we have already done checkmarked):

[*] Roll in more new "prospecting" media lists (500 a month?)
[*] Hit more, smaller newspapers with op-eds
[ ] Get more Internet/e-mail media contacts
[ ] Switch over to a PC-based, in-house fax system (to save money)
[*] Use more photos in press releases
[*] Send out more inventive/unusual/experimental press releases
[*] Have more "response triggers" on press releases (the CALL box, etc.)
[*] Exploit colorful Libertarians (like Bill Masters, Kenny Kramer, etc.)
[ ] Meet with a PR/advertising expert; hire a consultant for advice?
[*] Improve skill with Bacon's; get new 2002 directory
[ ] Attend more events/press conferences where media already is
[*] Better list "maintenance"

A few comments about the projects/strategies we've already done:

1) Roll in more new "prospecting" media lists (500 a month?): We've added a "prospecting" list of 2,000 new radio stations around the USA.

2) Hit more, smaller newspapers with op-eds: We've added about 250 new newspapers to our list. For example, we've started adding newspapers that print Future of Freedom Foundation op-eds, since we assume they will tend to be receptive.

3) Use more photos in press releases: We've tried this several times. The idea is that photos will break through the text "clutter" of the hundreds of press releases most media outlets receive. We've had mixed luck: The "Gin-Soaked Jenna" release did well; the "Top 25 Songs" didn't. Samples of those releases are attached.

4) Send out more inventive/unusual/experimental press releases: We've tried several experimental releases: We adopted the "Top 25 Liberty Songs" article from the August issue of LP News, which we sent to 250 rock 'n' roll stations. We did a humorous (?) "news from the future" release about the recent U.S. attack on Iraq. As mentioned above, the results were mixed, but our goal is to continue to try to "think outside the box," and experiment with different approaches. (Samples attached.)

5) Have more "response triggers" on press releases (the CALL box, etc.). This is simply putting a box at the bottom of a press release with a specific pitch to radio talk show hosts -- perhaps an explicit show topic suggestion, or highlighting the "debatable point" of the press release, or some other call to action. This technique seems to slightly increase response.

6) Exploit colorful/interesting Libertarians (like Bill Masters, Kenny Kramer). We issued an "Interview Opportunity" press release about Kenny Kramer, and hit a special New York media list. It generated 14 calls. (Sample attached.)

7) Improve skill with Bacon's; get new 2002 directory. George has mastered the somewhat tricky database software for the Bacon's media directory, and can now quickly generate specialized media lists. We'll be getting the updated, new 2002 directory within the next month, or so.

8) Better list "maintenance." This is simply keeping better track of bad numbers, and correcting our databases. We've been doing this more aggressively.

* MEDIA REPORT 2001:

Over the past four months (since the last LNC meeting in April), our media numbers have remained fairly stable, although they continue to be lower overall than in 2000:

We had been averaging 98.7 media contacts a month (Jan.-March).
Now we're averaging 101 contacts a month (Jan.-July).
In 2000, we averaged 130.25 contacts a month.

We had been averaging 49.3 media interviews (Jan.-March).
Now we're averaging 49 media interviews (Jan.-July).
In 2000, we averaged 49.4 interviews a month.

We had been averaging 595 individual stations a month (Jan.-March).
Now we're averaging 805 stations a month (Jan.-July).
In 2000, we averaged 1,113 a month.

These numbers continue to reflect a diminished interest in the post-presidential year -- although we do hope to reverse that with our media strategy plan.

Over the last four months, our most popular press releases have been:

Gary Condit/Sex Criminal -- 16 contacts

Income Tax Day/Foolish Spending -- 15

Interview Kenny Kramer -- 14

AMA Targets Guns -- 9

New York Cell Phone Ban -- 9

Bush Amnesty for Immigrants -- 8

Medical Privacy Campaign -- 8

Gin-Soaked Jenna Bush -- 8

Bush's First 100 Days Quiz -- 7

Casey Martin/ADA Ruling -- 7

As an aside, I understand we received some considerable criticism from the Online Libertarian Army about the Condit/Sex Criminal press release. Interestingly, it was our most successful press release of the year. It again proves something I heard from a journalist once: "If you think it's news, it isn't necessarily news. If everybody else thinks it's news, it is news." The release was successful because it took a story that was dominating the headlines -- and burning up talk radio -- and presented a new spin on it. It also allowed us to talk about an issue we care about: Consensual crimes.

* OP-EDS:

Our op-ed program continues in high gear. Here's a comparison to last year:

In 2000, we issued 12 op-eds.
So far this year, we have issued 13.

In 2000, we had 46 op-eds printed.
So far this year, we have had 106 op-eds printed.

Our most successful op-eds this year have been:

High-Tech Surveillance --	19 newspapers
Medical Privacy --	16 newspapers & websites
California Power Crisis --	15 newspapers & websites
ADA Follies & Casey Martin --	15 newspapers & websites
Czar-Struck --	11 newspapers
LP Influences Senate Outcome --	8 newspapers & websites

* TELEVISION:

We've had a surprisingly busy four months in terms of contacts from TV stations and networks: From April to July, we were contacted 18 times by everyone from CNN, the Fox News Channel, BBC World Television, the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC), and ABC's 20/20. Unfortunately, this only generated 3 more TV appearances, which boosted our total TV appearances for the year to six. (We also passed on one TV opportunity to state affiliates since April, bringing that pass-on number to four for the year.) Since April, LP spokespeople appeared on:

* Judicial Watch TV	May 29
* Renaissance Cable TV	June 15
* Judicial Watch TV	July 5

* MISC. MEDIA:

During the first week of July, LP Press Secretary George Getz performed a media hat-trick-plus-one: He appeared on four different types of media. He was a guest on Judicial Watch TV, did 10 radio interviews, talked to two newspaper reporters -- and was featured in a streaming video interview on the NRA.live.com website.

Also in July, the LP's recipe for the "Feinstein" drink (part of a press release blasting the California Senator for proposing a federal law to limit airline passengers to two drinks) was reprinted by the influential www.HotlineScoop.com.

Attached to this report are three charts tracking LP media accomplishments from 1993 to 2001: The average number of monthly media contacts; the average number of monthly interviews; and the average number of monthly stations. (The chart figures for 1993 include only June to December. And the chart figures for 1996 include only the non-presidential months: January to July and November & December.)

* LIBERTARIAN VOLUNTEER:

The Volunteer continues to be a victim of a constant onslaught of other projects, e-mails, phone calls, and so on. Given the difficulty in producing it, I plan to roll it into LP News -- probably for the rest of the year. Space permitting, I plan to devote a full page in each LP News to the kinds of articles that appeared in the Volunteer -- activist tips, practical political advice, how-to suggestions, and so on.

* LP NEWS:

Now that Jonathan Trager has been on board for several months, we're finally starting to achieve a long-time goal: Posting new material to the website on a more regular basis. Over the past few months, we have posted new material (on average) three to four times a week -- articles, press releases, action items, or op-eds. LP News articles are now frequently being posted before they appear in LP News.

Through the first eight months of the year, LP News has averaged 29 pages a month. That's smaller than in 2000, when it averaged 36.2 pages (mostly due to increased campaign-related advertising). However, we're seeing considerably more interest in full-page advertisements, so I expect more 32-page issues through the end of the year.

* Rejected Advertising: One LP News ad was rejected during the past four months of this year. The ad -- and the e-mail I sent to the advertiser -- are attached at the end of this report.
Also: We did one ad "swap" with the Second Amendment Foundation. In exchange for running their ad, the Libertarian Party will be listed as a sponsor on all the conference material at the 2001 Gun Rights Policy Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. The ad and their letter are attached.

Attached to this report are two charts, tracking LP News page counts and advertising revenue. (Note: Advertising revenue numbers are estimates from our ad-tracking spreadsheet, not "official" revenue figures.)

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