Exercise 31 Developing an Issue Statement

Its your first week in your new job. Your boss comes to you with the following problem and asks you to develop an issue statement:

The Red Cross in your town is having trouble keeping an adequate supply of blood on hand during the summer months. Auto accidents are always up during the summer, resulting in an increased demand for blood by local hospitals and emergency units. However, students at the local college, who are major donors during the rest of the year, are out of town for summer vacation.

Expand on this problem by filling in the blanks on the other pieces of information needed to develop an issue statement. You might be surprised how much your common sense can tell you about a problem, even before you begin to dig deeper into the issue with research.

1. Who would be the most obvious affected parties? What about not-so-obvious ones?

2. Is this an issue of immediate concern, impending concern, or potential concern? Explain your reasoning.

3. What are the Red Crosss strengths and weaknesses as regards this issue? Think about this organization. How much do you really know about it? A little research here might help you answer this vital question of assets and debits.

4. Once youve fleshed out the problem, write an issue statement based on the information youve developed.

Exercise 32 Preparing a Direction Sheet

Now develop a news release for your local newspaper about the Red Crosss blood supply crisis (explained in Exercise 31).

Answer the following questions about your proposed release:

1. What are you writing about?

2. What do you hope to accomplish by producing this piece?

3. Exactly who is your target audience?

4. What will grab your readers attention (this includes the editor who will determine whether or not to run the piece)?

5. What are the key ideas you want to communicate?