Several readers wrote to say they loved the item in last week’s ezine regarding the Newspaper Map of the World, the interactive map at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. that shows headlines in today’s newspapers in hundreds of countries.
When you place your cursor on a particular city, you’ll see headlines for today’s newspaper. If you double-click on the dot, the page gets larger. I was in a hurry when I wrote that item.
But since then, I’ve been thinking about ways to use the map, particularly for people seeking publicity:
- In place of an expensive media directory. It won’t come close to giving you you all the information a media directory will, but it’s a good place to start if all you need to know is the name of a newspaper in a certain city.
- If you’re traveling to a particular city—for a speaking engagement or book tour, for instance—and you’d love to do an interview with the local newspaper when you get there, you can stay abreast of the news weeks before you arrive.
| - The map will also help you find local reporters who are covering the major stories of the day. Once you know who covers what, you can read their articles before you pitch them and perhaps tie something they’ve written previously into your pitch. (You can also probably find more in-depth information on who covers what at the newspapers’ websites, particularly for larger newspapers.)
- You can follow the Newseum on Facebook and learn quickly whether major newspapers ran stories of certain breaking news events on their front pages.
- You can refer to it if you’re job-hunting, willing to relocate, and you want a job at a newspaper. (Are any of those people left these days?)
OK, I thought I could come up with six ways to use the map, but I’m all out of ideas. The sixth one is yours.
How would you use this Map of the World?
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