22 April 2019

Press Officer Seeks Newsworthy Results for St. Louis Briefings

Richard Fienberg

Richard Fienberg AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force

AAS Press ConferenceAre you giving a talk or presenting a poster or iPoster at the 234th AAS meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, 9-13 June 2019? If so, have you considered whether your presentation might be of interest to the news media?

I'm going through all of the on-time abstracts looking for results worth featuring in the news briefings I'm organizing, but some are equivocal and don't reveal whether the findings being presented are incremental, paradigm-shifting, or somewhere in-between. And, of course, I don't have the late abstracts yet, as they're not due until May 1st. If you're submitting (or have already submitted) an abstract that you think might be newsworthy, I'd appreciate a heads-up!

Please have a look at the articles "What Makes an Astronomy Story Newsworthy?" and "How AAS Press Conferences Happen." If you think your St. Louis presentation should be considered for inclusion in a press conference, discuss your findings with the public-information officer (PIO) at your institution who covers astronomy. If you're not sure who that person is, look on your institution's website under "media relations," "press," or "news."

Presenters and PIOs often ask about the AAS embargo policy. It's online. If your PIO agrees that you have something newsworthy on your hands and that you're free to speak to reporters about it at the June AAS meeting, ask them to contact me, AAS Press Officer Rick Fienberg, by email or by phone at +1 202-328-2010 x116 by Friday, 3 May 2019. Or contact me yourself by then. Thanks for your help! See you in St. Louis!