The thought of dealing with the press terrifies many candidates and campaign staff. And whether coverage is from a local political blog or nightly news, media has the power to reach many thousands of voters— and all for free. But controlling that narrative is another story. Your local newspaper can choose to endorse, elevate, and promote your campaign… Or completely throw it off message. So how do you work the media—so that it doesn’t work you?

This week on the Election University podcast, Reiny Cohen and Jason Bennett chat about mastering the media and using it to promote your campaign. Our hosts talk with Marco Lowe, Adjunct Professor of Campaigns, Elections, and Public Policy at Seattle University, political commentator on King5 News in Seattle, and local elections guru. They discuss how media can be used to benefit and harm your campaign. They talk managing expectations, speaking on and off the record, leaking stories, mastering messaging, and communications strategy on this episode of the Election University podcast. Don’t miss it!

You can find out more about Marco and connect with him on his LinkedIn here. Interested in taking his class? You can find out more about this educational work here. Want to see some of his debut videos commenting on Seattleite politics? You can watch some clips from King5 here.

Listeners, we want to hear from you! Have you ever been caught in a “gotcha” moment on the campaign trail? What about the press is encouraging or terrifying to you? Have you written your share of monotonous press releases? Are you writing an OpEd to your local newspaper about how much you love our podcast? We want to know about it! Send us an email at podcast@electionu.com or leave us a note or a review in the comment section below.

You can listen to the show right here on the EU website or by subscribing in iTunes, Apple Podcasts, GooglePlay, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, and more! If you do subscribe, please leave us a rating and review. We love the feedback and we read every one! If you'd like to hear a particular topic on our podcast, please email podcast@electionu.com. As always, thanks for listening!