For every media topic there is a season
By Henry DeVries
You do not need psychic powers to predict the news. Certain stories appear with regularity. Sex, money and health are the three topics that are always in style. If you can provide new information on these subjects, the media will always welcome your input.
Other topics come in and out of style. Just like there are fashions in clothes and cars, there are fashions in news. To be a quoted authority, think not only news topic but also what is in style for this news season.
Here is a month-by-month list of news topics. Newspapers, magazines, television, and radio are looking for fresh spins on these ageless news pegs.
- January Fitness, prediction, Super Bowl
- February Romance
- March Spring training
- April Baseball
- May Moms
- June Weddings, graduations, dads
- July Vacations, Fourth of July
- August Hot weather
- September Back to school, football
- October World Series, Halloween
- November Elections, Thanksgiving
- December Holidays, year-end wrap-ups, resolutions
Another predictable aspect of media coverage is the anniversary story. For example, major news events are re-examined after intervals of one, ten, twenty, twenty-five and thirty years. Not only does history repeat itself, so does the news.
A quick scan of the following list will help you see what other anniversaries will be making news. Check the list and brainstorm how you could tie-in to with these anniversaries and others.
- April 4, 2003 35th anniversary of Martin Luther King assassination
- November 22, 2003 40th anniversary of Kennedy assassination
- June 6, 2004 60th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion
- July 20. 2004 35th anniversary of the first moon landing
- August 6, 2005 60th anniversary of Hiroshima atom bomb
- December 31, 2005 35th anniversary of the official breakup of the Beatles