October 12, 2018

Warrior news spreads worldwide

WDIV reporter Steve Garagiola interviewing Associate Professor Donna Kashian on May 16, 2018, about fish contamination.

During the last 12 months, nearly 2,000 stories featuring Wayne State traveled a wide swath across six continents, landing in a number of mainstream media outlets around the world.

With the exception of Antarctica — which identifies a single publication, The Antarctica Sun — the university was highlighted in print, radio and television on a variety of topics, averaging six stories daily.

Wayne State Marketing and Communications annually reviews media activity to determine the content of news coverage and geographical reach. Data is captured through several monitoring tools and identified by a tier structure — Tiers I, II and III.

bar graph
In 2018, major Tier I stories totaled 912 — topping last year’s 909 total, and representing an increase of 12 percent since 2014.

Emphasis is placed on Tier I stories, which focus primarily or exclusively on the university, usually including prominent photos or video. Tiers II and III, though not focused entirely or exclusively on Wayne State, feature faculty experts commenting on trending topics — commonly referred to as pull quotes and soundbites — or topics shared with other institutions.

“The data that we collect is important to our efforts as communicators,” said Tom Reynolds, associate director of public relations. “We can see the broad reach of our communications to media outlets locally, regionally and globally. This helps us as we craft and pitch story ideas that spread the good word about Wayne State.”

In 2018, major Tier I stories totaled 912 — topping last year’s 909 total, and representing an increase of 12 percent since 2014. Tier I stories are often pitched or facilitated by Wayne State communications professionals. Another component of the annual media review is advertising value of the stories, which refers to the actual cost of purchasing comparable advertising space for each story. The estimated advertising value of 2018’s stories is $17 million.

This year’s stories extended from Detroit area dailies, television and radio to national media outlets such as New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Fox News, CNN, ESPN, CBS and ABC News, Boston Globe, Yahoo News and numerous international outlets.

A sampling of major headlines included:

  • Wayne State reaches $750M fundraising goal early
  • Wayne State offers new program for students who left university with debt and no degree
  • $1.54 million NIH grant to Wayne State to identify ways to improve cardiac function in heart failure
  • Wayne State Researchers launch efforts to ease stress of Syrian refugees
  • New Wayne State lab uses autonomous vehicle tech to develop innovative computing solutions
  • Wayne State celebrates the opening of $40M Ilitch School of Business
  • Wayne State University welcomes largest freshman class in its history
  • Michigan University Research Corridor contributes $18.7 billion to state economy
  • Wayne State announces $65M project to restore and expand Hilberry Theatre in Detroit's Midtown
  • Wayne State University makes $6.6 million investment in Detroit
  • Wayne State University celebrates 150 years
  • More than 2,000 students attend Wayne State’s STEM Day

Subscribe to Today@Wayne

Direct to your inbox twice a week