Have you discovered something potentially newsworthy using a NRAO telescope? If so, our Public Information & News Team welcomes the opportunity to work with you to generate public recognition for your result.

Our team of publicists, writers, and visualizers are experts at interpreting science for the public, and in crafting press release kits that get picked up by the news media. We will work with you directly to craft a press story that conveys your scientific results in an accurate and accessible way, and will leverage our relationships with journalists to bring your result to their audience.

Who should I contact if I have a result that is potentially newsworthy?

• ALMA, Amy C. Oliver, Charlottesville, aoliver@nrao.edu, +1-434-242-9584
• VLA and VLBA, Dave Finley, dfinley@nrao.edu, +1-575-835-7302

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When should I contact press officers about my science results?

A: The best time to contact our press office about your result is at the time you submit it to a journal for publication, or before. This is because it can sometimes take anywhere from 5-8 weeks to fully produce a press kit. The sooner you tell us about your results, the more time we have to build a press kit, and the more likely we are to avoid issues along the way.

Q: The press office keeps talking about embargoes for press releases, but I've only ever heard of embargoes for scientific results at specific publications. What is an embargo for press releases?

A: Embargo— both with scientific journals and with press releases— means that you are not allowed to share the information publicly until a pre-determined date and time.

If you have a paper publishing in Nature or a similar publication that enforces embargoes, you are not allowed to share your results or press releases before the journal publishes your paper. We can— and definitely should— build a press kit while your paper is under embargo so that we are able to publish the press release within hours (or sometimes minutes) of your results publishing.

If your paper has been submittedto ApJ or ApJ Letters, the journal doesn't embargo your results, ***BUT*** if you're working with the NRAO press office to produce a press kit for your results, our team will place an embargo on your science results to ensure that they remain new to journalists and the public until the date your press release publishes. This is why it is very important to reach out to the press office as soon as your submit your paper or even before. Early contact allows us to produce a press kit while your results are going through peer review. This, in turn, allows us to be ready to post a press release once your paper is accepted, so that you can post to arxiv unhindered. During the time, press officers at NRAO and your institution may share your press kit with trusted members of the media who have agreed to keep embargo and not publish anything until we say it is okay. This is a very important part of our relationship with those journalists who need a week or longer to produce a meaningful story about your science results. You should not personally share your results with anyone while they are under embargo without first talking to involved press officers to be sure it is okay.

Q: My paper has already been accepted for publication. Can you still produce a press release?

A: Once a paper has been accepted, the timeline to publication is typically too short for our press team to help, and we may decline to review your paper for potential press.

Q: If I contact your press team before my result is published or accepted, isn’t that breaking embargo?

A: No, you are not breaking embargo by contacting our press office for help in developing a press release and press kit. We are trusted press professionals who work closely with the press offices at publications and at other institutions. We are aware of and abide by all embargo requirements for publications, and we ourselves enforce strict embargo protocols.

Q: I have finished my paper and am ready to publish it to arxiv, but someone told me that I should talk to the press office first. Why?

A: Once you post your paper to arxiv, it is publicly accessible and could be picked up by a journalist. If you have a particularly interesting result, we can almost guarantee that it will be. If that happens, our team may decline to build a press kit for you because we only build press kits for results that haven’t already been covered. Considering our press releases often are published in ***hundreds*** of publications worldwide and reach millions of people, it’s a shame when the story breaks on one web site.

Q: Followup. What if other science teams are investigating the same data and they might publish before me?

A: When your science is at-risk, you should always put the science first. That might mean forgoing a press kit in favor of getting your results on arvix before anyone else beats you to it. Talking to us as early as possible in the process of publishing your paper— at the time you submit it to a publication or even before— can help ensure that we’re able to create a press kit that publishes at the same time you put your paper on arxiv.

***Please note: If your paper is being published in Nature or another similar journal that enforces embargoes, you are not allowed to post your paper to arxiv unless and until the journal provides you with written permission.

Q: What makes a science result newsworthy?

A: When we review a science result for potential newsworthiness, we look for the following characteristics:

• It is new (not confirmation of a previous result and not previously covered in the media).
• It is interesting to the general lay public.
• It has superlatives: new, biggest, brightest, closest, most massive, most destructive, youngest, etc.).
• It overturns a previous belief or fills a major gap in understanding.
• It includes an evocative image or could easily be illustrated for this purpose.
• Will be published by a refereed journal or announced at a major meeting (AAS or AAAS).
• NRAO will not issue press releases to the media until a paper has been accepted for publication or the results have been presented at a conference.
• For results that are primarily a “pretty picture” NRAO may issue these as Image Releases without publication in a journal.

Q: My university/institution really wants to get credit for my discovery. Shouldn’t I just work with my own press office?

A: We specialize in collaborating with the press offices of institutions around the world and do so on a daily basis. In all likelihood, we’ve collaborated with your press office in the past. We’re pleased to work with them on co-releases and we freely share our resources when we are involved in the creation of a press kit. We often find that institutional press offices benefit from our experience in crafting astronomy stories and visualizations, and of course, we benefit from the increases attention to the story that their participation makes possible.

Q: I’ve decided to only have my institutional press office issue a press release and to not use NRAO’s press office. Can you still process images and create illustrations for my press release?

A: It is NRAO policy that we only process images and create other visualizations for those press releases in which we are involved in the writing process. We do not provide image support for outside press releases; however, if we work with your institution on a co-release, we will gladly support visualizations and share these resources freely.

Q: What if my research involved multiple telescopes, perhaps non-NRAO radio telescopes or telescopes in other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum?

A: We routinely work with our colleagues in the press offices of other observatories, sometimes on joint press releases, and sometimes on the coordinated release of complementary stories. Our press office will contact the press officers at these other observatories to let them know a story is being developed.

Q: How can I be sure your press release will accurately reflect my science?

A: Our writers and artists work directly with PIs to develop press releases and visualizations, so you’ll be involved every step of the way. You can also rely on accumulated expertise. Our team has years of experience in distilling and communicating science results to the public. In fact, our writing team (of 3 people) alone has a collective 90 years of experience in communicating scientific results. We’re all trained science journalists, too, and collectively have written about results from every wavelength in the spectrum and nearly every Observatory in existence. We also have some of the best science artists in the world on our team.

Q: Can I just write my own press release or contact the media on my own?

A: It is inadvisable for you to write your press release for your science results. Press officers both at NRAO and at your institution are trained not only in writing for press and the public, but also in building stable, meaningful relationships with the media to ensure that your results get seen and covered in the news. We rely on these relationships to help us publicize the results of hundreds of scientists. Going around press officers not only will likely result in little or no press for your result, but could also create confusion, damage important relationships, and in general make it more difficult for us to do our jobs. You would not want us doing your science research for you, so please don’t do our publicity work for us.

Q: What is the difference between a press release and a press conference?

A: A press release is a written document, typically consisting of 700-1200 words of carefully crafted publicly-accessible text. It is often accompanied by illustrations, infographics, animations, processed science images, or short videos. The more time we have (from the time we learn about your result to the time it publishes) to work on the kit, the richer it can be.

A press conference is a live media event where journalists come to listen to the scientists talk about their results. It’s similar to a presentation you’d give at a science conference, but is focused on the results and why they’re important in a publicly-accessible way. Press conferences are accompanied by a press release in nearly all cases. Press conferences are reserved for really big results.

Q: I’ve never talked to the media before. Can you help me?

A: Yes! Our press officers are available to provide media training and also support on Zoom and phone interviews. If you are being interviewed by a tv news crew, we will work with your institution to ensure someone is there to support your interview.

Q: What are the costs associated with working with the NRAO Public Information and News Team?

A: There are no costs associated with working with our team. Informing the public about advances in understanding the Universe is a part of NRAO’s mission and is a freely available resource to scientists using our telescopes.

Q: Where will my science results be seen in the media?

A: Every NRAO news release receives some degree of attention in the national and international media. While we can’t guarantee any specific news outlet will cover your results, many of the releases we write are covered by outlets like USA Today, AP, Reuters, Big Think, Forbes, Astronomy, SpaceNews, The Times London, Al Jazeera, NPR, CNN, CNET, and more.

Distribution:
We distribute press releases through Eurekalert, Newswise, and ScienceX, and depending on the nature of your result, may also write a child-friendly version of your release for SpaceScoop. We also distribute and pitch (which means, offer a compelling reason to publish) your press release to carefully curated lists of journalists with whom we have developed a strong relationship.

Web publication:
Press releases are published on the NRAO web site in English and the NRAO Chile web site in Spanish. ALMA results are also published in both English and Spanish on the ALMA web site. Since NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation, our releases often also appear on the NSF’s News From the Field and Science 260 news service.

Social media:
Press releases from NRAO are published on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter social media channels. We tag your institution and you where possible, along with other observatories whose data was involved in the research. ALMA releases are also published on ALMA’s social media channels in both English and Spanish. If we produce videos, your videos will be posted to NRAO’s Vimeo and YouTube channels in both English and Spanish, and with accompanying SRT files for closed caption support.