Too many developers have been burned by prior news stories, so they’re hesitant to be proactive: “Why attract attention when there might not be any opposition out there?” is the fear. I don’t totally disagree with that sentiment, but there are some measures you should take to minimize NIMBY media attacks in the future.
REPORTERS ARE SKETCH ARTISTS, NOT PAINTERS
The key to securing desirable news coverage is approaching reporters as sketch artists and not painters. They have tight deadlines to meet and column inches to fill, so they're generally superficial in their knowledge. So getting to them first and providing bite size segments of complex info frames the issue, thus, giving you an edge for the desired perceptions. If you humanize your issue, even better.
STOP MAKING THIS TV INTERVIEW MISTAKE
The interview could not have gone better. You owned it and the host expresses her gratitude, thanking for being on the program. Then, right before you sign off, everything goes south and you blow it. The image you crafted for yourself of control, knowledge and persona has been canceled out by 5 careless words repeated every day in news media by both pro and amateur guests alike.