How to "Get Wired" at The National Press Club

The Wire, the Club's newsletter, is critical for publicizing your event. It is edited by a staff of volunteers. To increase your likelihood of having your item published, please follow these simple guidelines.

Guidelines

  1. Meet the deadlines.

    • Please submit your copy before 6 p.m. at least one day before you’d like your item to appear.
    • The Wire is published Monday at 1 p.m. and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 9 a.m. The Wire is NOT published on Tuesday.
    • Early is better. Very early is best! If an editor needs more information and must email you, this could delay publication.
  2. Send it to the right spot.

    • Please submit your item via email to the Wire inbox. The email address is: [email protected]
  3. Follow the format.

    • The item should be written in the body of the email, not as an attachment. We repeat, no attachments, please!
    • Exception to the ‘no attachments’ rule: A photograph, if you have one, should be sent (as a png, gif, or jpg file) in an attachment.
    • The item should include the following things in the following order:
      1. Headline: The proposed headline should be written in sentence style (capitalize only the first letter and proper names). If it is an upcoming event, include the date of the event at the end of the headline and set off by a comma. Ex. Team chairs to meet at NPC, Feb. 7
      2. Byline. That means your name as you would like it to appear.
      3. Your email address. This email address will be published so pick an email that is suitable for publication.
      4. The item. Please remember to include the 5Ws: Who, what, where, when and why. Yeah, yeah, I know you know that. Right? Right.
      5. If the item includes a link to a website or the Event Brite calendar listing, please include the full URL of the link.
      6. Put registration and cost information in the second or third paragraph. Wire readers know whether they want to attend an event and we don’t want them hunting for registration information.
      7. Attach a photo. Photos are essential to the new Wire and website layout. If you’ve got a photo, please send it along. If not, the Wire editors will do their best to find something suitable.
  1. Get covered!

    • The Wire also runs news and feature articles.
      1. The Wire staff strives to cover all Headliner events, including Newsmakers, luncheons and Book & Author events. If you would like to volunteer to cover one of these high profile events, please contact Assignment Editors Lorna Aldrich at [email protected] or Bill Miller at [email protected].
      2. Assign a team member to cover your event and submit it to The Wire or ask Wire Features Editor Mark Schoeff to assign a story to the growing features staff. We don’t have unlimited staff, so no promises. If you’ve lined up a team member to cover an event, please email the name of the event and the writer to the Wire inbox in advance so we know to look for it.
      3. Submit a feature story, write a profile or bring something interesting to our attention. Tell us about your committee’s substantive agenda or a member of your committee who is worthy of a profile.

The Golden Rule of Wire Coverage

Do not yell at or “nastygram” via email our volunteer editors even if something has gone wrong. They make a great effort to deliver a quality product and they will do their best to fix things as quickly as they can if you spot an error.

Sample Item

Please follow this format!

Trained monkeys to type Hamlet, explain journalism at forum, May 9

Donna Leinwand Leger

[email protected]

A flock of trained monkeys from Bananas News will type Hamlet and expound on the future of journalism at a forum at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 9 in the Holeman Lounge.

The event is open to members, working journalists and all primates with opposable thumbs. Registration is required. Please click here to register. www.press.org/monkeyforum

The forum is free to members and $5 for non-members.

The monkeys will also sign copies of their book, "Working for Peanuts." The book will be sold for the discounted price of $19.99. No outside books are allowed.

For more information about the event, please email Donna Leinwand Leger at [email protected].

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can my item run every day until my event?
A: No.

Q: Pretty please?
A: Still no. We want our readers to have a new experience with each edition. Most folks don't want to see or read the same item over and over again.

Q: Can my item run more than once?
A: Yes. We are happy to repeat an item once a week, sometimes twice, until the event.
NOTE: You must resubmit the edited item each time you want to run it. Simply go to the website, copy your already edited item into an email, add any new information and email it to the wire at [email protected]. Easy.

Q: Why?
A: As magical as we are, we can't track every event. Our editors work various shifts so a new editor won't know you sent an email last week asking another editor to run an item on alternating Thursdays during the full moon.

Q: I wrote the 5Ws. I did it all right. I sent flowers. Why didn't my item run?
A: Sometimes an editor may hold an item. Here are some of the reasons:

  • The editor has a question about an item.
  • The editor has too many items and has decided the item can wait until the next edition.
  • The item was submitted after deadline and the editor had already reviewed the inbox.
  • There aren't enough items to warrant a Wire that day so the editor is not publishing. The item will be published in the next edition.

More Questions

What? You Have More Questions? Seriously?

Call or email Publications Committee chair people:

Donna Leinwand Leger [email protected] 703-854-5138
Mark Schoeff [email protected] 202-256-5822