Getting Coverage - Local News
News Stories
Like all newspapers, we are interested in reporting what has happened in the community. We are, however, even more interested in staying ahead of issues so that we can let readers know what is being proposed, how it will affect residents and how they can make their voices heard.
Weekly newspapers work on stories a week ahead of publication, so giving us plenty of notice of coming issues and events is the best way to ensure comprehensive coverage. The deadline for press releases is a full week before publication at noon. On big, complex issues, the sooner we learn about them, the better our coverage will be.
The news deadlines are as follows:
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Wednesday at noon (1 week prior to Wednesday publication): Cupertino Courier, Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Saratoga News, The Sunnyvale Sun
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Thursday at noon (1 week prior to Thursday publication): Almaden Resident, Rose Garden Resident, Branham Resident
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Friday at noon (1 week prior to Friday/Saturday publication): Campbell Reporter, Willow Glen Resident, West San Jose Resident, Winchester Resident, Cambrian Resident
Cover Stories
Each week, we lead off with an in-depth look at interesting people and issues in the community. We are always happy to hear ideas for cover stories. We evaluate cover story ideas both on their content and their photographic potential. Staff plans cover stories as much as a month in advance of publication. It is important to contact the editor early with cover story ideas, especially for timely topics. The best way to suggest an idea is to contact the our editors directly. You can find your local editor's contact information on our contact page.
Business
We believe strong businesses are the heart of a strong community. We are looking for stories about local business trends, such as how businesses are coping with the economy and how shopping locally benefits the entire community. We also appreciate receiving press releases about honors and recognition received by local business people.
Our deadlines for business stories are listed below. Because of space and time considerations, we may hold some stories until a later publication.
The business story deadlines for our neighborhood papers are as follows:
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Wednesday at noon (1 week prior to Wednesday publication): Cupertino Courier, Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Saratoga News, The Sunnyvale Sun
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Thursday at noon (1 week prior to Thursday publication): Almaden Resident, Rose Garden Resident, Branham Resident
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Friday at noon (1 week prior to Friday/Saturday publication): Campbell Reporter, Willow Glen Resident, West San Jose Resident, Winchester Resident, Cambrian Resident
Community
In addition to news about community issues and concerns, schools, sports and business, we report on the milestones in the lives of local residents including news of weddings, engagements and deaths. Wedding, engagement and obituary forms are available on our announcements page . We are also interested in news about clubs and organizations, including election of officers.
Opinion Pages
Our opinion pages offer readers an opportunity to express their opinions through letters to the editor and longer opinion pieces. You also read occasional editorials where we, as a newspaper, take a stance on issues. Sometimes, our editors offer opinions in an effort to stimulate community dialogue. Our goal is to have our opinion pages serve as a forum for community dialogue.
Please keep letters to a maximum of 300 words. Longer opinion pieces will be considered and run at the editor's discretion. We do not run anonymous letters or opinion pieces. Although we understand a desire for anonymity in some situations, we believe that healthy dialogue is best achieved when those who express their opinions do not hide behind the cloak of anonymity. Letters should be signed with first and last name and name of street (but not the address). Please include phone number we can call for verification or to check information. Phone number will not be published.
The deadlines for letters are as follows:
- Wednesday at noon (1 week prior to Wednesday publication): The Campbell Reporter, Cupertino Courier, Los Gatos Weekly Times, Saratoga News, The Sunnyvale Sun & Willow Glen Resident
- Wednesday at noon (1 week prior to Thursday publication): Almaden Resident, Rose Garden Resident
The deadlines for longer opinion pieces are as follows:
- Wednesday at noon (1 week prior to Wednesday publication): The Campbell Reporter, Cupertino Courier, Los Gatos Weekly Times, Saratoga News, The Sunnyvale Sun & Willow Glen Resident
- Thursday at noon (1 week prior to Thursday publication): Almaden Resident, Rose Garden Resident
How to submit social photos for the Steppin' Out section:
Because of budget restrictions, we are no longer able to send photographers to cover the social and charitable events that have been an integral part of our Steppin' Out coverage for years.
We believe this kind of feature is important to the community because it is a way to acknowledge the hard work of volunteers who contribute so much to the arts and to charitable organizations. And, of course, these social photos also help get the word out about the work of our local nonprofit organizations.
With your help, we will be able to continue providing this service. Digital photography has greatly simplified the process of taking and submitting photos to the newspaper, but we still have some requirements that must be met if we are to use the photos you submit.
* Photos must be high-resolution--at least 200 dpi.
* Because of the format we use, please send either 13 photos--especially for elegant, black-tie events--or 5-7 photos.
* We prefer photos with two or three people in each (preferably a little of each). Occasionally, we can use a shot of four people, but the danger here is that they begin to look like lineups.
* Do not repeat people in photographs. Even the honored guest should be in no more than one photo in the group you send to us.
* We absolutely must have a brief description of the event, including date, chairs, location, theme, description of what the organization does and, if possible, how much money was raised. People must be identified from left to right and the names must be spelled correctly.
* The best way to get the photos to us: Bring them by on a disk; e-mail them, but remember, unless you have a lot of capacity in your e-mail file, you may have to send them one at a time because they will be large files--and that is time-consuming for you and us. A good way to get them to us is for you to post them on our FTP server, using this address: 71.6.62.152. The login name is: outside and the password is: outside. You need to use an FTP program to connect.
We recommend Fetch on older Macs, Cyberduck on OSX Macs, and CoreFTP Lite on Windows computers, but any FTP program will work.
Then be sure to e-mail us to let us know to look for them. It is imperative that your identifications be numbered and match the number of the corresponding photo. If you can imbed the identification with the photo along with your photo credit, under 'file info', so much the better. (Please note that all photos used become the property of MediaNews)
Mary Gottschalk will be working with organizations that plan to send photos to us, so please contact Mary with questions or to let her know that you plan to submit photos:
mgottschalk@community-newspapers.com
Phone: 408.200.1035
If you are looking for a freelance photographer to shoot your event, the following three people have shot many social events for us:
Katie Cooney
katiecooney@mindspring.com
408.446.5500
Kelly Haehnel
kjhaehnel@sbcglobal.net
408.390.5719
Mark Tantrum
markt.photo@gmail.com
408.891.5442
We're looking forward to continuing to work with you.
How to contact us
Send press releases, news tips, forms, letters and opinions to your local edition's editor. We welcome letters, press releases and other information by email or fax. The editor is always happy to talk to readers by phone or to set up times for meeting in person. Your local editor's contact information can be found on our contact page.
