Revised 09/16/2013
Purpose
News Briefs is a weekly e-newsletter sent on Tuesday afternoon to all NC Conference clergy and interested lay persons. Because different staff persons with different workloads may be involved in the production of News Briefs, this policy provides a guide for the timely and organized
production of News Briefs.
Schedule
The deadline for submitting items for publication in News Briefs is 9 a.m. Monday morning, prior to publication on Tuesday. All submissions must be sent to communications@nccumc.org. Items not in the email box by 9 a.m. on Monday will be held until the next week’s edition.
Content
- Items to be included in News Briefs should be short descriptions of upcoming events, training opportunities, or other information which are designed to enhance the ministry of local churches in every district, clergy, and laity, accompanied by a link to a website with more information.
- The Communications staff will not be responsible for writing articles. Do not send a web link or a flier and expect an article to be written by the Communications staff. All articles are subject to editing for content, clarity or length, as determined by the editor.
- AP writing style is followed for News Briefs. Read the AP style tip sheet (PDF). Writing should be in third-person without including opinions or preferences. If first or second person writing and opinions are needed, the appropriate words can be said in a quote with the quote being attributed to an individual responsible for the event or subject.
- Items specifically about a local church event will not be included in News Briefs unless it is a conference-sponsored or endorsed event with appeal across the conference. Inclusion is at the discretion of the editor.
- All items included in News Briefs must be submitted by or be endorsed by a staff member in the United Methodist Building.
- No item will be included in consecutive issues unless there is a drastic change/addition to the previous information which warrants immediate action (ex: event has been cancelled, changed date or location, etc.)
- No item will appear in News Briefs more than three times. This could be once a month for three months or once every other week for six weeks.
- Send the news to be included for that week only. Do not send one email asking that an item be run in multiple editions of News Briefs.
- Be mindful of registration deadlines or event dates. Items with less than a week’s notification will not be effective. Notifications with at least a month’s notice or longer are more effective.
- Do not rely on News Briefs as the only avenue for communications to pastors and other subscribers. Additional conference avenues for news include the District Office, NCC Christian Advocate and the conference website, nccumc.org.
Questions can be addressed to communications@nccumc.org.