Presentation on Sun City by Steve Hawkes on January 12, 2010
Report by Annette Spencer
Steve Hawkes has been the Business Editor of the Sun since November 2008. Previously he worked on the Times, as an industrial reporter before covering the retail sector. In the past he has also worked for the Daily Mirror, Evening Standard and the Press Association, not forgetting his first journalistic post at Materials Recycling World.
Steve spoke enthusiastically about the Sun's approach to business coverage, showing real passion for the paper's mantra of explaining things simply, as well as providing some practical tips for getting your stories on to the iconic Sun City page.
Key points from the presentation and Q&A included:
- An average day for Steve starts about 8am reviewing results announcements, RNS statements and overnight events in New York and Asia.
- He will usually file 2 or 3 stories for the website during the morning, before the news conference at 11.30am, after which the news list is set unless there is a late-breaking exclusive.
- He's happy to respect embargoes, as he'd prefer to know about stories the day before to make sure he can consider them in time.
- The Sun uses the website mainly for breaking stories. Online content is currently free, and Steve wouldn't speculate on whether this will change in the future.
- The Sun newspaper sells 3 million copies daily, and has 8 million readers. It has more AB readers than the Financial Times, Daily Mail or Guardian and is highly trusted by its readers. So he remains surprised that some big companies don't seem to want to talk to them.
- There is lots of interaction with readers, compared with other newspapers, and this often provides them with leads or exclusives, eg. readers will ring the Sun first if they are made redundant. The paper is seen as "part of the family" by many of its readers.
- The Sun has two big themes or events for the first half of 2010: the General Election and the World Cup. Any relevant stories which link to either of these themes are welcome.
- Major business stories will be covered in the news pages rather than Sun City - but they will still be written by Steve.
- It can seem that Sun City is only interested in consumer-facing companies, but Steve says any company is relevant if there is a good angle (eg. interesting previous careers of CEOs, rags to riches tales or British firms having big successes). Above all you need to make the story easy to understand. Too many PRs don't think about the Sun's audience and send incomprehensible press releases. Worse still, they don't know their facts when Steve rings up to try and decipher what they are going on about. So write simply and clearly - and know your facts when you get the call!
- Suggestions for Special Guest ‘editors' for the page once a month are welcome, bearing in mind that Steve is deliberately targeting big companies and high profile CEOs, eg. Terry Leahy, Willie Walsh, etc. The Special Guest package will usually include an interview on Sun Talk (the online radio station), as well as most of the space on that day's Sun City page.
- Sun Talk is available as an iPhone application, too.
- SunEmployment is being relaunched on 14th January and provides another potential platform for business stories.
- And finally, original photos that are not the same as you send to every other paper are always very welcome.
In summary, Steve's key message was do talk to him, but think about his audience and make sure your/your client's story is genuinely something your friends down the pub would be interested in and that you can explain it to them in simple terms.
Annette Spencer specialises in media relations and strategic corporate communications, particularly in the financial services sector. She has recently completed a contract managing communications for the acquisition and integration of three businesses in Central and Eastern Europe for a major UK insurer.