The Marketing and Communications team is happy to reach out to media on behalf of Moody College. All communication with reporters and the media about official administrative programs and policies, including pitches and news releases, should be routed through the Marketing and Communications team.
If you have something to publicize, please let us know in a timely manner, so that we can pitch the story to University Communications for wide distribution, as well as conduct interviews, write a news release, receive approvals and tailor a media distribution list.
If you are contacted by a reporter, please see the information related to Media Requests below. Members of the media may contact Mary Huber for help connecting with Moody College faculty experts.
Media Outreach Options
Media Relations: We distribute media advisories and story pitches about research, high-profile speakers and exceptional grants and awards, among other topical stories. We can target a specific angle to appropriate news outlets.
News Tips: When a faculty member has expertise about a breaking news story, we can prepare a “news tip” that alerts reporters.
Op-ed Pieces: We provide editing and placement assistance to faculty interested in writing opinion articles.
Feature Stories: We promote feature stories on the Moody College website, The University of Texas at Austin news sites and social media. We also send stories to reporters, as appropriate.
Social Media: We work to engage key audiences through several social media platforms, including: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube
Media Requests
We respond to targeted and relevant media requests. If you receive a media request to respond to questions related to your expertise or discuss your research, you are welcome to work directly with the reporter, but we do appreciate being informed about the story and given a link when it is published. You can email Mary Huber.
Here are some tips for handling print and broadcast interviews:
- Contact us with any questions or concerns about how to respond.
- Take time to gather your thoughts.
- Decide on a few key points you'd like to convey, and have factual and anecdotal examples ready to share.
- Anticipate difficult questions, and instead of saying "no comment," explain why you can't or won't answer the question.
- Give short, jargon-free answers to help reporters who tend to use short quotes and sound bites.
- Remember that nothing is "off the record." Anything you say could end up in the news.
- Don't hesitate to ask reporters if you can verify information or quotes.
- If a reporter makes a major mistake, call the publication and ask for a correction. If you have any concerns about whether the issue should be pursued, contact us.
The Role of Faculty
Why participate in media relations, website stories, videos or op-eds?
- Enhance your institutional reputation
- Disseminate new knowledge
- Influence the debate or the conversation
- Make yourself visible to your peers
- Helps with career development
How to get involved?
- Find out what topics from your field are being covered in the news.
- Ask yourself: what is important? What should people be concerned about?
- Consider what expertise you have that would be useful to reporters.
- Formulate opinions on important issues and be ready to share them.
- Consider ahead what topics you think will be covered in the news in the next few weeks or months. What would you want to say about them?
- If you have any research that will be published soon or any exciting projects you are working on, let us know about them three weeks in advance so we can help with promotion.