Firefighters ignore weeklies in campaign

The Island Now

In the wake of the bombings at the Oklahoma City Federal Building or the World Trade Center, you may remember iconic photos of a firefighter cradling a baby victim or a crew raising the American flag above the twisted girders of a fallen skyscraper. You may have similar images in your mind’s eye of heroic rescues in your own communities.

You remember these incidents clearly, indelibly, for one reason: they appeared in newspapers.

Indeed, no two professions are more closely intertwined than print journalism and firefighting. In fact, it was publisher Benjamin Franklin who used his community newspaper in 1736 to call for the formation of Philadelphia’s Union Fire Company, the first volunteer fire brigade in America. New York City followed suit a year later with the formation of the Fire Department of New York.

These days, volunteer firefighters in New York State are having a hard time recruiting new members, leading the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York to launch a three year, $2.1 million statewide recruitment drive called “Is there a FIRE in you?”  FASNY was recently awarded a $4.2 million U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant to help recruit 15,000 new volunteer firefighters.

FASNY’s advertising and PR agencies in New York City, Syracuse and Albany will buy thousands of TV and radio spots, more than 100 billboards, plus ads in movie theaters, online and through social media. The agencies, however, have not seen fit to place its message in the medium that has so loyally covered volunteer firefighters in New York for 275 years.

Community newspapers will not bring you any part of this campaign because FASNY and its ad agency has deemed newspapers as unworthy of any investment, stating that “it is harder to recruit volunteer firefighters because as people have become more mobile they have become less attached to their communities.”

The New York Press Association, the trade association for community newspapers in New York, tried unsuccessfully by telephone and by email to discuss the ways newspapers could help with the campaign both in the pages of our newspapers and on newspaper websites. Curiously, the public relations firm hired by FASNY has leaned on community newspaper editors for free coverage of its advertising campaign, including requests for local stories about firefighters who will be the faces of the campaign.

We are confused. Community newspapers aren’t worth investing in, but FASNY will take all the free coverage they can provide?

Community newspapers routinely publish stories about fire department recruitment, open houses, parades, youth firefighter academies, fundraising events and awards ceremonies. Community newspapers routinely run full color photos of new trucks being christened or proudly being displayed in Main Street parades. Community newspapers send reporters and photographers, day or night, to cover fires and accidents. Community newspapers cover the municipal meetings during which fire department budgets and new equipment spending items are discussed and decided. And, in turn, local fire departments spend local funds with community newspapers to recruit volunteers.

Let’s make something clear:  the beef community newspapers have with this ad campaign has nothing to do with local fire companies; the complaint is aimed squarely at FASNY. The fact is, no media has higher household penetration in local communities than the combined reach of community newspapers and their affiliated Web sites. And because community newspapers provide such comprehensive coverage of local fire departments, some of our most loyal readers are volunteer firefighters, their family members, and their friends.

Recruiting volunteer firefighters is niche marketing at its finest, the very thing that community newspaper excel at.  The people who are most likely to volunteer for their local fire department are individuals who care deeply about their communities and the people who live in those communities.

Statewide, community newspapers average over 60 percent penetration in the communities they serve, while the highest ranked television or radio station averages an 8-9 percent share of the viewing or listening audience. A mixed media approach is a sound strategy – but why not place this important message before the very audience most likely to respond?

When FASNY’s latest pot of federal money is spent, community newspapers will continue to do what we’ve always done – work hard to produce economically sound newspapers that add to the identity and pride of the communities we serve, and make a difference in the quality of life for residents and merchants.

When major advertising campaigns pay homage to youthful trends at the expense of dedicated traditional journalism, it weakens an enterprise that tells the story of volunteer fire departments with the greatest depth and consistency of any other form of media. We are ever-grateful that most businesses and organizations in our communities understand that their support of independent local journalism means photos of future acts of heroism and generosity will find a home on the pages – as well as the webpages – of their community newspapers.

 

Michelle K. Rea

Executive Director

New York Press Association/

New York Press Service

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