When I attended my niece’s high school football game in Ohio last fall, I couldn’t help but notice that some of the cheerleaders looked like (starts with the letters SL and rhymes with mutts).
Apparently, it’s not just me feeling old again.
A story in my local paper yesterday discussed the spirited debate over what’s appropriate at high school football games. The multimillion-dollar cheerleading business, the story said, seems to be drifting far from its pep squad roots and is now too influenced by outside factors such as racy music videos and hip-hop music. Some cheerleaders throughout the U.S. are wearing skimpy uniforms, doing the bump and grind, and yelling vulgar chants–even in elementary school.
In fact, a bill languishing in the Texas legislature would let the state regulate moves by cheerleading squads at public schools.
I found the story fascinating and noted its source–the Religion News Service®. It reminded me to remind you to add this service to your media database. It’s often been difficult to get religion stories, or those on the fringes of a religious topic, on anything other than the religion or op-ed pages in the secular press. So the news service seems like a good alternative.
It deals with news about religion, ethics, spirituality and moral issues.
Based in Washington, D.C., the news service has a network of correspondents around the world, providing news and information on all faiths and religious movements to the nation’s leading newspapers, news magazines, broadcast organizations and religious publications.
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, U.S. News & World Report, Time and Newsweek magazines, National Public Radio, and ABC World News all have used its stories.
I emailed the folks at RNS and asked if I could interview them, but they declined, saying they are already inundated with pitches. Even so, that shouldn’t deter Publicity Hounds from at least trying.
Don’t just pitch major stories. Submit briefs such as Q&A features, quizzes, round-up boxes that include various kinds of sources, etc. “Briefs, Fillers & Quizzes: How to Write Them and Why Editors Love Them” explains the nine types of briefs and gives you dozens of ideas on how to use them in your publicity campaign. The one-hour teleseminar is available as a CD or downloadable transcript that you can be reading in minutes. Read more about what you’ll learn.