Fellow Histarchers:
I am perplexed by Ned Heite's comments on public relations and
education. Having a good deal of experience in this area, I have not had
problems with bad press. Quite to the contrary, The Lost Towns of Anne
Arundel Project--a public research program sponsored by Anne Arundel
County's [Maryland] Department of Planning & Code Enforcement--relies on
constant press coverage for two reasons:
 
1. Convey what we are doing and what we have learned to the public, not
only sharing our work but advertising opportunities for training,
participation, and school group programming; and
2. Demonstrating to county government the popularity and importance of
the program; particularly in the areas of education and heritage
tourism.
 
County officials, through their public relations offices, like to be
kept aprised of press releases so that they are not caught unawares, but
they have been supportive to the extent of encouraging us to produce a
videotape on our work for the county's open access cable channel. (We
filmed and broadcast the video with the cooperation of the county
videographer.) At least 50 articles have been published on The Lost
Towns Project since its inception over three years ago, several of those
pieces appearing in the nationally-known Washington Post and others
reprinted across the country via the wire service or published in
nationally-distributed magazines.
 
The reasons for our success probably boil down to a few points. We have
a good product and a mission to involve the public in original
archaeological and archival research, a mission to which we adhere
sincerely and conscientiously. We prepare the journalists with clear,
concise explanations and supplementary materials. We do not, as a
British archaeologist put it some months ago, try to 'blind with
science.' Most importantly, we approach the printed and broadcast media
with the assumption that they are hungry for interesting material,
particularly ongoing events that they can continue to write about.
Hypercritical exposes, were they possible in connection with our
project, would simply 'close the well,' and the scoops would go to more
sympathetic journalists.
 
I suggest that excessive caution on the part of an office can be traced
to its lack of confidence in the programs it administers and/or in the
persons and groups directly involved in those programs. Win the
bureaucrats' confidence. Access to the media will follow quickly enough.
 
Jim Gibb, Assistant Director
The Lost Towns of Anne Arundel Project
Annapolis, MD  USA