On the 2nd of July, Havas Just:: hosted a HCA journalist briefing event with Thea Jourdan. Here are my key take-aways from my first ever journalist briefing meeting.
All about Thea: Thea has over 30 years of experience in media; writing for the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and The Economist’s science section. She felt that there was a need for a media outlet aimed at healthcare professionals (HCPs), medical students and the wider scientific community that would cover current research topics that aren’t being discussed in the mainstream media. As a result, she founded The Hippocratic Post blog with her colleague, Jane Anderson.
At our event, Thea shared some interesting insights about running The Hippocratic Post:
- It has a broad and international reach, with the New York Times and the Guardian citing their articles
- It regularly carries out pro-bono work with charities and is involved during health-related awareness days. This is a good opportunity to collaborate with various corporate sponsors who want to get in on the action
- It partners with prestigious institutions such as The Royal Society of Medicine, which provide a sense of integrity and validity to their content
- Its connections with various HCPs and organisations provide a constant pool of news stories to be showcased
- There’s a wide variety of content: from articles on paramedics dealing with sexual assault victims, to pieces on surgery, mindfulness and lifestyle
- There are plenty of opportunities for communications agencies to collaborate with Thea and the blog. For example, advertising on the website and outreach activities through debates and awards
- Finally, despite not having full-time staff, or any money backing The Hippocratic Post, it has a reach of over 500,000 people and a large talent pool from which to draw meaningful content
Take-home messages for PR professionals and agencies:
- Your ideas don’t have to be big all the time: A short interview with a doctor about an interesting operation or patient is all you need to go on to develop something that could have a real impact
- Get out there and have the conversations: Stories just waiting to be told are lurking among brilliant HCPs, the only limiting factor is their ability to deliver them – that’s where PR professionals can get involved with even a simple phone interview
- Timings: If a story is no longer ‘hot’ don’t discard it! These always have a way of making it back into the limelight sooner or later, and once they do, they are as good as gold!
- Congresses and meetings: Don’t discount a conference because it looks boring on paper – go and speak to the attendees, they hold all the insight you need!
Keep an eye out for the next event Thea is hosting on behalf of Medecins Sans Frontier (Global Preservation Foundation) on 21st October: “Is climate change the driving factor behind global catastrophes today?”
Thank you to the HCA for organising an insightful meeting with Thea, and a big thank you to Thea for sharing your tips and experiences with everyone!