The West Australian

EMAILNOTICES>noPublicity offers make the assumption their stuff *has* to be used. It doesn't. It's completely disposable to editors and journalists. Do you read the paper every single day? Mondays have often been good because that's the day The West has the most trouble filling holes in the paper.The managing editor of a newspaper is your best chance - it would be pointless going to the general manager or chief executive because they simply don't deal with deciding what copy goes into the paper.Curtin University recently did a study on publicity and press officers and found that most press releases went to the wrong person, the people receiving them found the material contained within was of little or no value and newsrooms got irritated when multiple copies were sent to different people because eventually they would all end up on one person's desk.The reason community theatre is not covered to any great deal is that The West Australian and Sunday Times probably believe it will not interest the greatest number of people. That misapprehension may be wrong but it's a fair bit. And there's also the question of advertising - as much as the journalistic code of ethics is supposed to prevent those sort of things, if someone advertises, it's a fair bet they're more likely to get some coverage.So have you written your letters to Paul Murray and Brian Crisp yet?