5.14.1 Media Relations
Related Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board Policy: None
Related Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board Procedure: None
Purpose: Effective communications with the media are critical to Normandale Community College’s ability to carry out its mission and maintain and build support for the college’s programs.
Part 1: Effective media relations best serve the college by:
- Informing the public of what we can do for them
- Promoting the college’s achievements, activities and events of significance
- Expanding the general visibility of Normandale
- Ensuring that accurate information is conveyed to the public regarding incidents and issues of controversial and/or sensitive nature
- Positioning Normandale as advisor/expert on important higher education issues
- Aligning media relations outreach to the college’s strategic goals while also being careful stewards of student stories and bringing an equity lens to those efforts
Part 2: The Media and Public Relations office will help prepare and organize faculty, staff or students for possible public opportunities to speak to issues regarding Normandale Community College. To do that, the Media and Public Relations Director must be informed of any requests or information regarding such matters. In turn, it is the Media and Public Relations Director’s responsibility to provide advance notice of these opportunities, and background information regarding the interview.
Subpart A: All releases intended for off-campus or external audiences should be routed through the Director of Media and Public Relations.
Subpart B: The Media and Public Relations office should be notified about negative occurrences that are likely to raise the level of the news story.
Subpart C: The Director of Media and Public Relations should be notified as soon as possible (preferably prior to the interview) This is especially true for topics of college-wide significance or are of a controversial or sensitive nature. While members of the faculty and staff are free to respond to requests from the media regarding their individual professional expertise, research, scholarship, and teaching, notification will enable the Director of Media and Public Relations to provide support and context for the request and allow the college to promote the interviews on its communications channels.
Subpart D: Timely notification of interviews or media requests will help the college more effectively manage its reputation. This can be particularly important if follow-up inquiries are made with other college personnel to ensure a coordinated, consistent college response. The Media and Public Relations office will work hard to give faculty and staff as much advance notice of any media request as possible.
Procedure History: August 1, 2013
Date of Adoption: August 1, 2013
Date of Implementation: August 1, 2013
Date and Subject of Revisions: August 1, 2013
Updated in 2024 for additional context on the benefits of media relations, roles and responsibilities, removal of gendered language, updated reference to Minnesota State
Next Review Date: 2027