Public/Media Relations
The public relations department looks after areas in crisis management as well as public and media relations. The department also provides training in these areas to local churches and the various regional administrative offices throughout the South Pacific.
| Public Relations | Media Relations | Crisis Management |
| Communication | Training Resources | Our Team |
Public Relations
The core of public relations work is relationship management. Public relations should be intentional, but it can also be unintentional. The way your church maintains the parking lot tells a story. Each member of your congregation has the ability to tell a positive or negative story.
The public relations department helps develop positive relationships with different groups of people, including the wider community, the media and the church family.
Media Relations
Media relations is about developing positive impressions about your local church within the community with the help and use of the media.
Media releases
We can help write your media releases or provide advice on how to write them, and provide background information for press reporters and public broadcasters, and statistics for commercial radio and television reporters.
Some examples of how our media releases have achieved positive press coverage of local churches.
Media monitoring
We can help monitor the coverage your media releases generate. We receive press clippings from media monitoring agencies in Australia and New Zealand each week. We keep a database of all the clippings we receive. Please contact us if you or your church is looking for a particular article(s) from a newspaper.
Media distribution
We can help distribute media releases to Christian publications, radio and television stations and religious writers worldwide and to the worldwide Adventist church.
Media kit
We have developed a media kit. Your church can adapt this to contact the media in your local area. The media kit includes information on:
- Who are Seventh-day Adventist
- List of main beliefs
- Explanation of the church structure
- Statistical information about the worldwide church.
You can also download our generic media kit.
Media passes
Find out how to become a registered and accredited news correspondent.
Crisis Management
A crisis is any situation that is threatening or could threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business and/or damage reputation.
We help church administrators and communicators prepare for possible crises by assessing the risk involved in particular issues and the probability of such issues to turn into crises. We can assist you to put a procedure in place to deal with crises.
We also organise media training to provide spokespersons with the necessary skills to communicate with the media.
During a Crisis
We can help you prepare message points during a crisis. Message points are short summaries of important things you need to communicate to the media and others.
We can help write media releases and provide background information regarding the crisis. If necessary, these can be distributed to press reporters and public broadcasters.
We can also brief and advise your spokesperson before a media interview.
It is important to note that you should never talk to the media off the top of your head. Should a reporter call you for a quote, get their contact details and information of what they like to know. Call them back only after you have thought through what you will tell them.
Fill up the media contact form when a reporter calls to make sure you have obtained all the information you need from them.
Communication
Anybody can talk, but it takes a special person with patience and care to communicate effectively.
The produced by the public relations department helps anybody Communication Info newsletter with a heart for communicating effectively further develop their skills.
Communicate! is a manual for local church communicators
Training Resources
Want to learn more? We are available for training sessions on a range of topics on public relations, media relations, church communication, crisis management and more.
You can also download some of our presentations and resources.
Our Team
David Gibbons – Director of Public Relations.
Since 2007, David's role at AMN has primarily been in the area of public and media relations and crisis management. He has previously worked as the Marketing Director and also the Production Manager for the Media Centre from 1999 to 2005. David has also been an Adventist school principal in NSW and Victoria between 1976 and 1990.
"I am passionate about using the media and working with the wider body of Christ to share the Hope that Jesus is coming again soon whilst offering us all a better life: today, tomorrow and for eternity."
Melody Tan – Public Relations Officer
Melody oversees the area of Public Relations. She is involved in writing news articles, media releases and website content, in developing PR resources and in organising a variety of events. She graduated from Avondale College with a BA (Communication) in 2002. She has a passion for finding ways in which the church can communicate with the public through the various media and is constantly seeking opportunities for Christianity to be relevant to the world. Melody has previously worked as a marketing assistant for Newbold College, a tertiary Christian education institution in England, and for Citibank Singapore Limited.
