Are you the kind of person who:
- reads every inch of the Sunday paper, even the ads?
- can't resist subscribing to a new magazine that catches your fancy even though you get-and read-plenty already?
- likes to read about current events and people?
- enjoys watching and listening to news broad-casts on TV and radio?
- would rather read short stories and articles than novels?
What Is a Clipping Service?
Before you can decide whether you'd like to work for a clipping service, you might need to know a little more about what a clipping service does. Like fact checking, news clipping is a smaller occupational area. Fewer people are employed in either of these areas than in either manuscript reading or proofreading. Unlike fact checking, however, news clipping services are not confined to major metropolitan areas or publishing centers. While the central offices of clipping services may be located in larger cities, the readers frequently work in decentralized areas, often smaller towns.
First we'll tell you what a clipping service does, and then we'll explain why people want this work done. Clipping services-also called clipping bureaus-read newspapers and magazines in search of items about particular topics or mention of an individual's name. In some cases, they also monitor radio and TV news broadcasts and public service programs for the same kind of information.
The Reader
The reader's job is to read various newspapers and magazines and mark the items to be clipped. (If the reader is monitoring radio or TV, transcripts of the relevant material are obtained.)
The Clipper
When the reader accumulates a stack of newspapers or magazines, these are sent to the clipping department. There a person known as a clipper cuts out the article and fastens it to a piece of paper or clipping form. The article is captioned with the publication's name, date, city, frequency of publication, metropolitan area served (if any), and the circulation.
The clippings are sorted according to the client for whom they're intended, and then they're mailed to the respective clients. Ordinarily, the turnaround time from publication of the article to the client's receipt of the clipping is no more than one week. The short turnaround time is one reason that it's impractical to use freelancers.
Who Uses a Clipping Service?
Any corporation, association, or group of any kind-or an individual, for that matter-has two ways of getting its message across to the public: advertising and public relations. Corporations with products to sell spend a great deal on advertising, as we all know. Since they pay for the advertising to appear in newspapers and magazines and on radio and TV, they know that their message will appear unless it's been mistakenly omitted.
In addition to advertising, businesses, associations, and o prominent individuals rely on public relations to call attention to their messages or products. What's the difference between advertising and public relations? In its simplest form, it's this: advertising is paid for by the corporation, whereas public relations involve getting free publicity in the media. For example, let's say a game manufacturer has a new board game on the market. Of course, the company will advertise in newspapers and appropriate magazines and maybe on TV and radio, as well. That's the paid advertising we're all familiar with.
The company will also want to get some free publicity for its new product, so perhaps they'll stage a competition to determine a national champion at playing the game. There may be local, state, and regional eliminations to get to the national championship. At each stage, the company sends out press releases to all the news media telling them about this event, with the hope that the media will send reporters and photographers to cover the contest. This is public relations. (As you can see, public relations is not really "free" for the most part because somebody gets paid to dream up events, and there's expense involved in staging them.)
The company knows its advertising will appear where it paid to have it appear, but how about public relations events? How does the company know who covered the event and where it appeared? That's where clipping services come in. If a company actually staged a game competition like the one we described, it would hire a clipping service to read newspapers and magazines to find out which ones wrote up the event. Since the clipping service also provides information on the circulations of the various publications, the company will know how many people could have seen the write-up. (They could also ascertain who covered it on radio and TV.)
Uses for Clipping Services
Besides monitoring public relations events, clipping services can provide information to be used in a number of other ways. A company might want to know what new products are being developed by the competition, or it might want to know about personnel changes in competing or client organizations. Some businesses are concerned about trademark infringements; they might hire the clipping service to monitor competing products to be sure they're not in violation of a product's trademark.
Controversial topics
Companies working in controversial areas-atomic power, for example-like to know whether their public image is favorable or unfavorable. They might hire a clipping service to read editorials and news articles related to their industry. If a corporate official or an industry has been involved in a scandal, a clipping service might provide information on the public's reaction.
Sales Leads
Other companies use clipping services to generate sales leads. For example, a maker of playground equipment might want to know what park districts or school districts are planning new schools or new parks. The opening of a new plant in a certain town might provide sales leads for various other types of businesses, too.
Figures in the Public Eye
Celebrities use clipping services to monitor any references to themselves in articles, gossip columns, and features. Authors use clipping services to see where their books are reviewed and what is said.
As you can see, there are many reasons to hire a clipping service; we've given you only a partial list.
Additional Services
Most clipping services also generate other information from clippings for an additional fee. We'll mention these only briefly since readers aren't involved in these additional services. The clipping bureau often provides in-depth reports based on the information obtained from clippings. These reports might provide regional data or might provide monthly, quarterly, or annual breakdowns of the information gleaned from clippings.
State, Regional, or Nationwide Service
In some cases, the client may be interested in only local, statewide, or regional clippings. National clipping bureaus provide this kind of service, but there are also clipping services that specialize in certain geographical areas. For example, most states have a statewide clipping service in conjunction with their state press association. Newspapers that belong to the press association will be monitored by the clipping service. Papers that don't belong to the press association won't be included.
Specialized Subjects
Some clipping services specialize in certain topics, such as food or women's interests. Readers who work for specialized services still need to read a broad range of newspapers and magazines, but they would look for information only in the specified categories. You probably won't have the luxury of picking and choosing among various clipping services, but if you should, you might want to pick one that works in an area you're particularly interested in.
