Media Relations
The right stories, the right journalists, the right moment.
When media coverage works, every constituency sees it. Students, faculty, and staff enjoy the recognition. Prospective students and families notice. Alumni share the news with pride. Boards know the reputation is growing. Donors note the momentum. The right story in the right outlet can do more for an institution’s reputation than months of other communications work combined.
But this kind of reverberating success takes more than good stories. It takes trusted media relationships, a sharp instinct for what journalists want, and the focus to see opportunities through.
OuR ExPERTISE
Jeff Canning, our Vice President and Media Strategist, has built lasting relationships with journalists at the country's most influential outlets. Across 15 years of connections, he has earned his reputation for bringing them college and university stories that are worth their time and attention.
Jeff starts every engagement by learning your campus deeply: the people, the programs, the research, the ambitions. From there, he identifies genuine coverage opportunities, prepares your faculty and leaders to engage with reporters confidently, and follows through to make sure every placement serves your institution well.
He has secured placements in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, PBS NewsHour, CNN, NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, The Associated Press, The Atlantic, Newsweek, The Guardian, CNBC, Marketplace, and The Hill, among many others.
He partners with clients on:
Connecting you with national media.
Helping faculty engage journalists with insight and confidence.
Elevating your institution’s and president’s influence through meaningful thought leadership.
Capitalizing on the news cycle with timely, strategic responses.
Strengthening relationships with the local and regional outlets that matter to your community.
Providing seasoned counsel when reputation and risk collide.
Effective media relations is relational, not transactional.
Colleges and universities come to us when they’re ready to take their media strategy seriously. We don’t just help by responding to inquiries. We help actively shape how the press understands and covers their institution.
Success requires overcoming the reality that the academic and media worlds operate on different clocks and speak different languages. Faculty might be skeptical of reporters. Reporters probably don’t know your campus experts. Your talented communications team might not have the bandwidth or national media relationships to pursue essential proactive coverage.
Whether your institution is well-covered or rarely covered, it comes down to whether the right stories are reaching the right people in service to your goals. Jeff has spent a career developing the relationships and skills to make every story count.
