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Media Interview Procedure & Protocol Guide

Civic Data Alliance Logo Header

This document should serve as the point of reference for any questions or concerns regarding providing interviews, statements, or comments in an official CDA capacity. It is important to distinguish personal statements and actions from those done in an official capacity, and the following guidelines will help you achieve that.

Table of Contents

Core Messages

The Civic Data Alliance has two core pillars that serve as the cornerstone concepts which inform our mission, messaging, and work.

All the Data

Data is a valuable resource. It can help us understand the world around us by revealing patterns and abnormalities. This understanding can help us replicate successes and improve upon failures - successes and failures which are affecting real people in their daily lives.

Data helps us predict results, influencing the decisions we make and the justifications we provide.

CDA stands for and promotes parsing, interpreting, visualizing, distributing, and working with, many different kinds of data in a variety of ways. Applications and initiatives utilizing that data to create meaningful change is key to our mission.

For We the People

Data is only valuable to those with access to it, and those who can and will take action with it. To make data accessible to the citizens it affects, it must be open sourced and transparent.

For this reason, all Civic Data Alliance projects are open sourced and transparent. We strive to connect the communities our projects may impact with skilled volunteers who can aid in creating solutions for the problems they face.

Organizational Guidelines

What You Should Do

When contacted by media

  • Notify CDA leadership.
    • CDA has a volunteer, elected leadership position dedicated to dealing with media inquiries. You are always free to speak as an individual, and as a volunteer with CDA - just remember that official statements from CDA as an organization should come from leadership.
  • Ask preliminary questions before agreeing to an interview:
    • What organization are they with?
    • What information are they looking for?
    • Who is the audience?
    • Who else are they interviewing?
    • What's the deadline?
    • Why are they covering the event or project, or researching the subject?
    • What is the angle on the story?

Work with CDA leadership and use your best judgment to determine if you are the best person to speak to about a given event, project, or initiative.

  • Preparing for an interview or media statement:

    • Gather the facts and figures available to you about the topic.
    • Consider what piece of information is most valuable for the audience to receive.
    • Collect relevant sources and references for their follow-up afterwards.

  • During the interview or in a media statement:

    • Lead with what CDA is - a volunteer organization putting technology to work for the benefit of our local communities.
    • Avoid jargon or overly technical language. It is important to be accurate, and it is equally important to be understandable.
    • Connect the dots between the context, the data, the action, and the core message. Example:
      • We were approached by organization/group/individual to address problem. The problem affects community/group, and we collaborated on solution.

What You Should Not Do

  • Do not comment on individual groups, people or politicians. We are a nonpartisan organization.
  • Do not comment negatively about competitors, critics, or nay-sayers.
  • Do not say "no comment" or guess - it's okay to defer to others.
  • Do not "go off the record". You are never off the record.
  • Do not repeat negative language.
  • Do not mix CDA-promotion with self-promotion.

Civic Data Alliance Media Contacts

Remember, if approached by media, contact CDA leadership.

  • General public relations support or questions, contact these members of leadership:
    • Communications Lead
    • Community Organizer
  • Municipal or Metro matters, contact:
    • Matthew Gotth-Olsen, Innovation Project Manager, Office of Performance Improvement and Innovation | Twitter | Github
  • In the event of an emergency: