About the Press and Information Office

Media:

• Respond to an estimated 6,000 media enquiries a year from all over the world
• Inform the media (internationally, nationally and regionally) about the University’s research, teaching, developments and successes
• Handle media interest in major University issues, including (but not limited to): finances, funding, fundraising, policy, research, teaching, admissions, global reach and major building developments
• Write and edit the online news at www.ox.ac.uk/news and all pages off it, including the Science Blog and the Arts Blog. The pages over 1m hits a year
• Undertake media monitoring (Oxford receives hundreds of mentions a day in the worldwide media) and produce the daily news alert (an email round-up of major stories about the University in the mainstream media for University members)
• Handle interview requests for senior University members and provide briefing and training as appropriate
• Manage a database of University experts willing to give comment to media on their fields of expertise
• Operate a broadcast studio for University members to give down-the-line radio interviews
• Provide online media advice as well as in-person media training

Public information:

• Handle an estimated 2,000 public enquiries a year
• Manage, collate and write the online facts and figures about the institution (www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university)
• Manage and write content for online information directed at the public (www.ox.ac.uk/visitors_friends)
• Manage an online listing of University events open to the public, with around 200 events listed at any one time
• Ensure that external organisations and publications that provide information about the University are accurate (e.g. by liaising with the tourist office, tourist guides in Oxford, publishers of encyclopaedias and other reference books, etc)
• Manage and provide complete content for the University’s public information on animal research (www.ox.ac.uk/animalresearch)

Online media advice: We provide online guidance about working with the media, taking you through all the steps, from identifying whether the media is the right communication channel and whether you have a good story, to giving interviews on radio and television. 

Media training: We provide formal and informal training as well as an online list of other sources of training. 

Promoting research: If you think your research would be of interest to a more general audience, get in touch to discuss whether we could promote it to the media and/or cover it online.

Celebrating success: If you have won a high-profile award or honour, or have something else to celebrate, contact us. We will be blunt and tell you if it’s not ‘newsy’ enough for us to deal with, but in such cases we will suggest other channels.

Advice: If you think any aspect of your work is likely to become an issue in the media, or has the potential to be misrepresented in the media, we are always happy to advise.

Crisis management: When something serious happens that may or already has hit the headlines, you can turn to the Press and Information Office for advice and planning. We can work with you to plan a strategy, draft a statement, and field calls.

Expert comment: Does it ever bother you when you see someone less well informed than you getting column inches or air time for their views ? Sign up to our Find an Expert guide to be a point of contact for the media on your area of expertise and get the facts into the media.

Media monitoring and the Daily News Alert: We monitor media coverage of the collegiate University and summarise coverage daily in our email Daily News Alert, which goes out every morning to all Heads of House, Heads of Department and other interested University staff. If you wish to receive the ‘DNA’, please email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Studio: We have a broadcast studio which links to major broadcasters and which is available for live and pre-recorded radio interviews during office hours. Please get in touch if you are being interviewed for radio and would like to do the interview from Wellington Square.

Services for communications officers: We coordinate a network of people in communications posts based through the collegiate University, for the exchange of ideas, opportunities and skills.  We arrange occasional meetings and offer ad hoc training in media relations basics, and we manage a mailing list for members. If your post has explicit responsibility for external communication, contact press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk to join the network. 

Oxford’s Press and Information Office is about the same size as most large UK universities, but it is estimated that we receive at least ten times the amount of media enquiries and coverage. Our priorities are:

• Handling sensitive issues of strategic importance to the collegiate University, such as access and admissions, finance and funding, research using animals, key policy initiatives, major building plans, and crises;
• Divisional research priorities, identified with reference to the Division’s strategy (in consultation with the Head of Division) and with reference to the Campaign;
• The most influential media outlets, judged both by audience figures and target readers. National and international press (and issues or research likely to appear in it) will therefore take priority over local or specialist press.
  

If and when you would like us to work with you on something, we will give you an honest appraisal of
a) to what extent it would be of interest to the media,
b) how it fits in with our priorities.

If the issue is not a high enough priority, we undertake to:
a) explain clearly how we prioritise,
b) point you to a more appropriate person (for example the press office of your funding body, or a communications officer in your division, department or centre if one exists),
and/or
c) suggest ways in which you might put together an item for your departmental website yourself, or in some specific circumstances contact the media yourself.