Those are the stories we don’t expect to hear or read, but once we know about them, we find ourselves affected in some way or another.

One recent example is the story of a Red Oak, Iowa, couple that married on a Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the groom would undergo kidney transplant surgery. The twist: The donor of the organ was his new bride.

Perhaps another quirk that sets this story apart from others: The couple was married in a historic jail museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Though both contended to the press that they were taking their marriage ceremony and vows very seriously, they decided to get married at the jail because the bride had “finally been caught.”

At one time, these human interest stories were often relegated to an inside page of a newspaper or the second segment of a newscast. They took second place to stories involving crimes and tragedy.

Nowadays, stories like this stand out amongst the doom and gloom. In a society that is often bombarded with bad news, people yearn for news that is good and positive.

The human interest story is not only breathing new life into a struggling industry, but it also allows the public to hear and read the unknown and previously untold stories of everyday people who are often no different than they are. Once an underrated and under-appreciated facet of journalism, these features are now essential in keeping many organizations functional.

In the last decade, the rise of social media has presented new challenges for journalists trying to fact check their sources. The most popular social media sites, Twitter and Facebook, are virtually unregulated for content. (Un)fortunately, they are also responsible for spreading news – and rumors – quickly. Early in August, the sports world was sent into a frenzy when the media misconstrued a Tweet by NFL veteran Brett Favre that indicated he would be retiring from football. ESPN devoted a full-day of coverage to the story, which ended up being false.

Bloggers can also present challenges for journalists. Since anybody with the ability to build a website and post content can call themselves a blogger, it’s difficult to verify the validity of what is being said. If inaccurate information is spread from a blog to an online forum to a chat room, it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Facebook, Twitter and blogs have undoubtedly helped news organizations break crucial stories and better communicate with the public they serve. Ours is a fast-paced society and so many of us like to be accommodated quickly and efficiently. We like our news that way too. But the responsibility of the media to ensure a story’s accuracy becomes even more important when dealing with “face-less” sources.

It is the responsibility of media professionals to make sure the news presented is as accurate as possible. It helps maintain integrity – perhaps the second most basic and important tenant of journalism.

I didn’t hear Costas’ first interview segment, but I heard the second, and he essentially wanted to clarify his comments to make sure listeners didn’t take his downplaying of the 600th home run to be confused with Costas’ regard for Rodriguez’s overall baseball accomplishments and career.

What Costas said in the second interview isn’t the point. The point is, you are not Bob Costas, and if you do a media interview, there are typically no second chances to fine tune your message. The pressure is on all of us who do media interviews, or who prepare clients for media interviews, to get it right the first time.

This underscores the value of media training for anyone who is going to participate in media interviews.

We’ve done a significant amount of media training over the years and the number one benefit of this training to participants is that it makes them more comfortable with the process of a media interview. It takes away the “unknown” factor and empowers them to understand that a media interview is about much more than them submitting passively to a list of questions.

During media training, participants also practice their new found interviewing skills under life-like circumstances….cameras rolling, pressure on. It’s one thing to write message points on a piece of paper, it’s another to deliver them succinctly during an interview…just ask Bob Costas. He does this every day for a living, and doesn’t always get his message right the first time.

Interviewing with the media is just like any professional skill. The more you practice, and the more you do, the better you become. Earlier this week, on behalf of our client Experience Works, we helped introduce 101-year-old Sally Gordon to the world as the female recipient of America’s Outstanding Oldest Worker for 2010.

During the course of her life, especially lately, Sally has gained a lot of experience speaking with the media and the public. It’s this practice and experience that makes her expert at delivering that memorable quote such as the one that made it nationwide this week, including the print edition of USA Today. Said Sally, “I used to be a model. Now I feel like a model T.”

For the record, we did not media train or prepare Sally for her interviews. She’s been preparing for this for a century.

But, as with many things, Sally is the exception rather than the rule. If you have people in your organization speaking with the media, they should be trained and they should prepare for each and every interview.

Embargoes, or holds placed on information until a specified date and time, have been part of the newsroom for decades. Does the new and evolving media environment change if and how embargoes should be used?

In my mind, whether or not an embargo should be issued depends on the nature of the story. It is not a cut and dried decision. Before you decide to use an embargo strategy, I recommend asking yourself a few questions first:

1. Will you offer advance information to all media, or just certain outlets? If your answer is just certain outlets, do you risk damaging your relationship with other media?
2. What happens if a major media outlet – one that might provide excellent exposure for your client – says they will use your story if they can break your embargo? What are the pros and cons of letting the journalist move forward with the story?
3. What will the media think if they receive an announcement with an unexpected embargo? Some members of the media do not appreciate receiving embargoed information without first granting you their permission to send it as such.

Our firm uses embargoes with the media sparingly but all of the above scenarios are real, so be prepared for them. It’s a good idea to figure out where you stand on media embargoes before they become an issue.

So what’s your take on embargoes? If you have an opinion or experiences to share, we’d love to hear them.

Emilio is 104 and still works 30 hours a week at the gaming machine company that he founded.

Working in public relations for almost 20 years, I’ve come to understand that some stories that we think are important just don’t catch on with the news media. It’s just a fact we live with every day.

I’ll admit, I was concerned this might be the case with Emilio’s story.

Would the media in the 50 states care about the achievements of a 104-year-old who lives in Puerto Rico? Would anyone care that Emilio is believed to be the oldest living baseball player from the Negro American leagues?

But sometimes in PR the stars align, which is fitting since Emilio played infield for the New York Cuban Stars from 1928 to 1929.

Our PR team put together a solid plan, and I am happy to report that the story of Emilio has literally made it coast to coast – from Miami to Seattle – and everywhere in between. The coverage included an Associated Press story and coverage from USA Today.

It’s these experiences that reinforce why I love working in public relations. We get the opportunity to bring attention to people who are breaking barriers, like Emilio, who serves as an important symbol to the thousands of Americans who – by their choice or necessity – continue working long past the traditional retirement age.

My long-time friend Georgene Lahm, who writes about seniors issues, and I used to kid each other that we will both be working well into our old age.

Most days, I don’t consider this work, so I say, batter up.

The nerve of PRSA, making its national officers and board members carry the accreditation of the organization they lead.

On second thought, I guess that makes perfect sense.

I currently serve on a few volunteer boards, and it’s a given that such positions carry with them expectations that can range from time and monetary commitments, to other specific criteria that are important to each particular organization.

PRSA board members who are accredited demonstrate that they are supportive of the organization’s programs, including accreditation. These types of commitments are part of being a leader.

Petitioners argue that the requirement is unfair because 80 percent of PRSA members are not accredited, and therefore not eligible to serve as national officers or board members.

For the record, I am accredited by PRSA, and have been since shortly after I became eligible to sit for the exam (PRSA had required a minimum of five years of experience to earn your APR).

The accreditation process is designed to demonstrate a commitment to professional excellence and ethical conduct; measure knowledge of communications theory and application; and test capabilities in research, planning, implementation and evaluation. These are good qualities to have in leaders of the world’s premier public relations society.

No doubt, there are many non-accredited members of PRSA who would strengthen the organization through their leadership skills and experience. I admit that if I was not already accredited at this point in my career, I don’t know if I would go through the process now.

Some members have suggested that PRSA should offer different routes for accreditation to allow seasoned members to gain APR status based upon experience and other measurable achievements.

I support this kind of thinking. But until this happens, I encourage aspiring national leaders who are not accredited to show leadership of another kind…become accredited by your professional society.

If you asked me to name the national broadcast news outlets, ESPN would not be on the list.

I believe all the hand-wringing over the fact that ESPN gave away its editorial control to land the LeBron James interview is misplaced at best.

It’s a great business move by the sports network and an even better publicity stunt. For the past two days, think of all the exposure this network has gotten. Last I checked, there were more than 7,800 online news stories that mention the ESPN LeBron James interview.

ESPN’s bold move has its competitors – other talk radio networks, for example – fixated on the subject. Of course the view of competing networks is that ESPN is ruining its credibility by donating air time to LeBron and allowing him to select the interviewer.

If I considered ESPN to be a news outlet, I might be offended, but I don’t. To me it’s an entertainment network, much more similar to E! than CNN. This is about attracting eyeballs to the screen; it’s not about objectivity or balance. Nor does it need to be. This man puts a ball in a hoop for a living.

Advertising Age worries that this move by ESPN may be setting a bad precedent. What’s so bad about a sports network donating time so one of its biggest stars can announce the next city where he will be entertaining the fans, and at the same time the broadcast is raising money for the Boys & Girls Club of America?

Yes, broadcasting a one-hour special for a five-minute announcement is over-the-top. But my guess is that ESPN is enjoying the heat, and now, so too is LeBron.

The changing landscape is forcing PR professionals to examine new ways to add value to our clients’ PR programs – ways that extend beyond traditional media. Here are two examples that we are putting to work for our clients:

1) Develop an e-mail newsletter:

E-mail is an instant, personal and simple way to speak to people who already have a relationship with you and who are open to hearing from you. Designing it in a way that makes it obvious that it’s coming from your company, and including content that shares your expertise, can add value to your existing relationships and help create new contacts.

Start by developing a database of contacts that you think would be open to receiving your information. E-mail distribution services such as Constant Contact make it easy to manage the list and make adjustments over time. Distribute the newsletter once a month, or even with less frequency. Be sure the content is valuable – don’t send information that will make your contacts feel spammed.

Built-in share functions are available and allow recipients to spread the newsletter content via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. You should also promote the newsletter and its content on your company’s own social media pages.

2) Implement a social media plan:

We’ve been singing the praises of social media for a while now, and for good reason. Having a social media presence on sites appropriate for your business not only allows you to share company news, but it also does much more. As one client so accurately stated, “It’s the credibility factor.”

Nowadays, including social media in your company’s PR strategy is arguably as necessary as having a corporate web site. While all forms of social media aren’t appropriate for all types of business, I truly believe that any business can find a good fit among at least one of the social media networking options that are currently available.

What do e-mail newsletters and social media strategies have in common with traditional media relations campaigns?

They all require content that delivers value to the reader or viewer. This is the core reason these types of strategies work so well together. If you create content that has real news value, it will work in both traditional and new media spaces. The leading PR professionals are taking full advantage of the expanding and evolving opportunities to share their clients’ news, while not forgetting the fundamentals.

In Omaha, ABC affiliate KETV routinely devotes a special segment during its morning newscast to air comments that are posted on its Facebook page. And all four local network affiliates include special sections on their web sites for viewer photos and videos – posting and airing everything from pets in costume to summer storm damage.

These tactics are, of course, a great way to engage viewers. They also are examples of how social media is changing the landscape of local news.

As a former editor and producer, I understand that it is important for newsrooms to have a dedicated army of citizen journalists, armed with cell phone cameras and ready to capture spot news.

I also think that Facebook and Twitter can be valuable newsroom tools – gauging public opinion and providing instant viewer feedback.

This poses a tricky balancing act for newsrooms who must carefully evaluate viewer contributions and make sure they add value to the newscasts.

While I might get a kick out of the photos of dogs wearing Husker uniforms... I’d rather not see the day when these items become sandwiched between every news, weather and sports report.

Regardless of the reason a company might incorporate PR into their business plan, one benefit shouldn’t be ignored: The ability of PR to develop goodwill among the public.

When we meet with prospective clients, they rarely say one of their PR goals is to make people feel good about their brand. But there’s a definite “feel-good” proposition to PR that exists somewhere in the minds of corporate leaders when they decide to hire a PR firm.

And really, they have the right idea. Using PR to build a positive reputation and loyalty for your company is exactly the point. It’s all about sending the message – to customers, employees, the news media and the competition – that your company is committed to excellence.

When goodwill really comes in handy is if and when a company is faced with a crisis. Developing a positive, trusted relationship with the public surely helps when a problem is brought into the spotlight.

Take two companies that have recently been faced with crisis: BP (of course) and Tylenol. Although BP has worked hard over the last several years to position themselves among the competition as “Better Petroleum,” they are still seen as a corporate oil giant – and consumers don’t feel personally connected to the company or product.

Tylenol, on the other hand, has always been known as a trusted source and leader in their industry. Because of the goodwill Tylenol has generated prior to their recent crisis, I’m far more inclined to go back to purchasing their product after the dust settles than I am inclined to stop at BP for gas.

Goodwill can be developed in a variety of ways. However, like any good PR strategy, it takes time, effort and dedication to develop. But creating goodwill over the long term can make a world of difference when the (oil-soaked) tide turns against you.