Episode 265: How To Help Journalists and Create Quality Content, With Deirdre Stires, Former Portland Press Herald Outdoor Reporter

The PR Maven Podcast

Based on her 27 years as a journalist in Maine, Deirdre Stires (you might recognize her from her byline, Deirdre Fleming) shares what she was always looking for as a journalist and how PR people can be helpful. Deirdre talks about her recent transition to creating content for Bates College and why it is important to be a good writer when it comes to creating content. Deirdre also lists some of the content she enjoys consuming and some resources she has found helpful as a writer.

3:16 – Deirdre describes how her career began by studying journalism in college and moving to Maine to cover hockey.

10:53 – Deirdre shares the best ways to help a journalist, including delivering on what you say you will deliver.

21:08 – Deirdre talks about content creation and how she is always looking for something quirky or unusual.

28:58 – Deirdre gives a glimpse into the types of content she consumes.

33:28 – Deirdre explains why it is important to be a good writer when it comes to content creation.

35:28 – Deirdre shares some resources that have been helpful to her.

Quote

“I always wanted to get an unusual story, something different, something quirky, weird, bizarre and ideally, it’s something new. It’s breaking news. Then, you’re the first person to get it on your website or on the front of your newspaper, but even if it’s not something new, oftentimes within a story, there’s something unusual or unique.” – Deirdre Stires, senior writer at Bates College

Links:

Maine’s outdoor tourism industry seeks solutions for workforce housing: https://www.pressherald.com/2023/04/23/maines-outdoor-tourism-industry-seeks-solutions-for-workforce-housing/

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife: https://www.maine.gov/IFW/

Maine Audubon: https://maineaudubon.org/

The Nature Conservancy in Maine: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/maine/

Bates College: https://www.bates.edu/

Bates Trashion Show 2023: https://www.bates.edu/news/2023/11/16/bates-trashion-show-2023/

Portland Press Herald: https://www.pressherald.com/

“Becoming” by Michelle Obama: https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Michelle-Obama/dp/1524763136

Word Counter: https://wordcounter.net/

“Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen: https://www.amazon.com/Born-Run-Bruce-Springsteen/dp/1501141511

“Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1451648537

About the guest:

Deirdre Stires worked for 27 years as a journalist in Maine, first at the Bangor Daily News and then at the Portland Press Herald, where she covered the outdoors for 20 years. Many newspaper readers in Maine know her from her byline — Deirdre Fleming — and her stories that anchored the Maine Sunday Telegram Outdoors section virtually every week. But Deirdre also covered outdoor and environmental breaking news and wrote in-depth, front-page Sunday stories on Maine’s myriad outdoor activities, wildlife populations, conservation efforts and trends in outdoor recreation. In two decades, she wrote about — and experienced while reporting —virtually every outdoor activity in Maine.

She’s won several writing awards in Maine and nationally. In 2013, she was selected as a national finalist in the beat-writing category by the Associated Press Sports Editors, which means as an outdoor writer she beat out sports journalists around the country covering traditional sports like football, basketball and baseball.

Her first book, which will be published by Islandport Press this spring, will be one of the nation’s few hiking guides on accessible trails and will highlight the current movement to build more universal-access trails across the country.

Looking to connect:

Email: [e-mail]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deirdre-fleming-stires-383910132/

X: @DeirdreStires