Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace

Chapter 11. On the Age Beat: The Media and the Message

Introduction

Everyone talks about the media, but not enough business leaders pay attention to it. The power of media became clear to me back in 1985, when a positive article about SeniorNet appeared in InfoWorld, the widely read computer magazine, and led us to our first funder, the Markle Foundation. Articles on SeniorNet also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Time that first year, which helped establish the credibility of the idea. I quickly learned the value of meeting reporters who cover aging, knowing their beats and perspectives, and learning how to pitch a story.

In January 1987, a five-line item about us in USA Today brought SeniorNet more than 1,000 letters ...