One of the biggest problems people suffering through family court corruption have is getting the media to pay attention. First, they all think you’re crazy. I actually have emails from members of the media saying they won’t cover any custody disputes because they believe you’re all just vindictive nutjobs. I don’t agree with this philosophy (obviously) but many in the media do. This is a big barrier to overcome.
You must begin knowing that most reporters are contacted all day every day and 90% of the emails they get are written by crazy people-or at least people who don’t know they make themselves look crazy by approaching reporters wrong.
Wall of text-The first mistake many people make is rambling, long, unpunctuated, walls of text littered with spelling mistakes. (Just use spell check!) Not everyone is a writer, but find a friend who is good at writing and let them help you to avoid this major blunder. DO NOT under any circumstances send 500-1000 words with no returns or sentence structure. Paragraphs are your friend. Reporters are busy. I probably have 10 projects actively going and 20 on the back burner, a weekly podcast, a weekly Livestream, 12 chickens to feed, a puppy to exercise and train, and three kids to shuffle to t-ball, band practice, and lessons of all kinds. Whatever pitch you send has to be concise and easy to read. If it looks like this, it’s not getting read.
DO NOT send reporters documents. Documents take up memory. We get hundreds of emails a day. That means that we have to delete every email with attachments we didn’t ask for just to keep the inbox running well. Don’t send attachments unless asked.
DO come up with a SHORT summary of your problem. No matter how complex your case is, you can sum it up in 3 to 4 bullet points.
Example:
My children were taken from me, a protective father, unlawfully and they are in mortal danger.
Custody battle ongoing since 2019
Multiple reports of child abuse from mandated reporters, multiple outcries from children against ex-wife went uninvestigated
The court ordered the protective father into supervised visitation without evidence or reason, also suffered false arrest
Appeal pending, children in danger, need help to expose
That’s a lot of information in short pieces that will be much more likely to get the attention of the reporter whose help you are seeking. Once you get their attention, they will ask you for more. I will never forget one of the cases I worked on for over 2 years (and am still on) started out with one sentence from a desperate mother. All it said was, “They kidnapped my son.”
That one sentence told me a lot about this woman. She knows how to get right to the heart of the issue at hand, she doesn’t have time to mess around, she’s a good communicator. I believed I could work with her. I was right. Being easy to work with is a good goal to keep in mind. Reporters are not therapists. We care about what has happened to you but we can’t be a shoulder to cry on. That’s for your friends, family, priest, or therapist. When you are talking to a reporter remember Dragnet. “Just the facts, ma’am.” There is a line of other victims vying for our attention and the faster we can get the facts of the case on paper the faster we can help more people.
Before you ever reach out to a reporter you should have a Google drive set up that has all your evidence organized. You will need a Gmail address for this. If you don’t have one, make one. This will help you with future litigation as well as future press activity. If you have not done this you are not going to find anyone to do it for you. It is traumatic and it is painful for parents to do this especially when dealing with the loss of a child. Find a friend to sit with you to get this done. This is what it should look like. (If you do not know how to use Google drive just learn on YouTube.) Create folders with clear labels and then upload your evidence to the proper folder. Once this is done you can share the drive with any reporter who is interested in your case.
Create a Google Doc titled “Timeline” and in this document you will start a chronological list of all the events from the beginning to the present day with links to every piece of evidence referenced that are in the Google Drive. Example:
On January 1, 2019 CPS arrived at the door without a warrant and demanded to search my home VIDEO HERE (hyperlinked to the video on the drive.)
On January 2, 2019 a status hearing was held and I wasn’t allowed to testify and my children were removed from my care. JUDGES ORDER HERE (hyperlinked to the document on the drive)
Continue like this until you have the entire story mapped out and linked to all evidence so you can share that page as a directory to what is in the drive and why it matters.
These five things will help you get the attention of a reporter much easier and faster. I have of course helped people who don’t have these things. Most of them don’t and it makes the job a lot harder. So when the unicorn comes along who has everything organized and in one place and put into a narrative that is easy to follow that person’s story is much more likely to get covered. Every reporter wants a subject who is this organized. Remember that you are your best advocate. Most reporters don’t want to dig into a story for months before being able to write something. They want quick hits that allow them to move onto the next breaking story. If your story is wrapped up in a neat package with a nice bow, it will be much more attractive to the media.
I hope these tips are helpful to you. Please share and subscribe for free email notifications!
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Thank you for this! Going through this process now, after years of effort is extremely daunting; the earlier you can start this the better. On point 4 "Finding a friend to sit with you and get this done." is key IMHO - it has been essential for us to keep moving forward.