CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING
ET37B WALTER J. MURPHY, Editor
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A N THE course of our work as editors and newsgatherers it has been our fortune to a t t e n d many interesting meetings of a host of technical associations and societies. There can be n o argument against the contention t h a t t h e transactions of such groups should recewe accurate a n d adequate coverage i n both the technical and t h e lay press. T o omit such coverage denies scientists t h e information they need a n d deprives the public a t large of knowledge of a n important p a r t of contemporary life. For this reason, the membership of technical associations has just cause for dismay when meetings of their organizations a r e incorrectly or insufficiently reported. The fault, however, does not always lie with the press. T o be sure, chairmen of scientific groups often designate publicity chairmen t o handle press relations as one of t h e first steps in organizing a technical meeting. The publicity program does n o t end with such an appointment—it only begins. N o administrative official has a more difficult and sober responsibility than he who must initiate the dissemination of weighty technical material to the professions and the community as a whole. T h e selection of such a functionary should only follow a careful assay of the candidate's qualities and his attitudes toward his prospective post. Obviously, congeniality, a willingness to cooperate, and a practical imagination are important factors in the make-up of the ideal publicity chairman. He must be impartial in his dealings with t h e press and yet be able t o indicate t o them individually what technical papers presented a t the meeting m i g h t hold interest for their particular readers. I n addition, however, he must be capable of tempering his enthusiasm for his own field with a recognition of the coverage a-ims a n d limitations of varied publications. Above all else, he must take pride in his job a n d realize t h a t publicity is much more t h a n a Hollywood type of enterprise of little meaning. Perhaps t h e main fault of the publicity chairmen, from t h e journalist's point of view, i s the fact t h a t they frequently have n o prepared material ready to assist h i m in assembling his story. Such m a t t e r might either be in the form of complete copies of t h e technical papers presented or interpretive abstracts of the same. Since only the largest newspapers can maintain a staff of fullt i m e science writers, these "handouts" a r e especially important in the case of the lay press whose representatives are often totally unfamiliar with technical nomenclature. There is probably no more pathetic sight in
the Fourth Estate than that of a police reporter turned science editor for a day wandering dazedly through t h e echoes of a profound thesis o n molecular physics. T h e helpful publicity chairman has here an unequaled opportunity to make a lifelong friend. Professional science writers and editors of technical journals have their miseries, too, for in spite of their varied experience and specialized educations, they cannot be expert in every field of every science. To them the efficient publicity chairman functions best as an historian of his science or technology and so aids them in evaluating the relative importance of newly announced developments. Let us face it. Writers, like other human beings, have their share of laziness and therefore incline to t h a t paper or individual about which they have the most convenient and reliable information. Many a n inferior technical paper has received disproportionate publicity merely because the author ''happened" to have 12 extra copies of it with him for distribution to t h e press. There will always be a tendency among writers to play it safely and easily b y writing from legible and accurate releases rather than from garbled notes made in the gloom of a lecture hall blacked out for the showing of lantern slides. M a n y large industrial concerns and some scientific societies have long realized this and maintain publicity staffs for the main purpose of preparing and distributing press releases. This practice has paid off handsomely in increased and more accurate coverage being given to t h e activities of their scientists. I n one year, for instance, t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
News Service prepared releases on approximately 1,000 different items about t h e Society, its members, and their technical achievements. These handouts were distributed to a world-wide mailing list t h a t exceeded 3,000 publications which picked u p and used this material over 12,000 times. Naturally, t h e voluntary publicity chairman of a modest sized technical society cannot hope t o equal such a program in either scope or degree. H e can, however, take a page frorn their book and not limit the activities of himself and his committee to t h e distribution of free meal tickets a t the press table. Many will b e t h e blessings showered upon his noble head by red-eyed typewriter technicians as they pound out their story in a noisy editorial office or a n unfriendly hotel room in the wee small hours of the morning.
