SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Aug. 13 The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is unveiling a new online press room on its Web site after making multiple improvements to the tools and resources available to journalists.
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The goal of the new AVMA Press Room is to make covering the complex and often controversial issues in veterinary medicine as easy as possible for journalists and also to help establish the AVMA as the preeminent source of information on animal health, animal welfare, pets, food safety, zoonotic disease and veterinary medicine and science.
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"Before we set out to redesign the AVMA Press Room, we asked ourselves what a journalist needs to best do their job covering the AVMA, veterinary medicine, animal welfare and animal health," explains J.B. Hancock, director of the AVMA Communications Division. "Then we set out to deliver those resources in a quick and easy-to-use Web section.
"For example, we launched the photo gallery with hundreds of free photographs of AVMA leaders, veterinarians caring for animals, researchers and animals, because we know journalists are constantly in need of images to illustrate their articles. Our press room story ideas provide road maps to the vast resources of information on our Web site on a particular issue. We want to help journalists see the AVMA as their best resource of unbiased information on veterinary medicine. Journalists need to visit often, because we are constantly adding new photographs, podcasts, speeches and releases to the press room."
The photo gallery was set up about 12 months ago, and it has already been updated and expanded to provide a wide array of useful photographs. The photographs are categorized for easy searching, and journalists are granted free and unlimited use of every photograph, no request necessary.
The story ideas page is one of the newest additions to the AVMA Press Room. Journalists can visit a story idea page on an important issue--such as animal fighting, animal welfare, avian influenza, West Nile virus, zoonotic disease, dog bites, food safety, household hazards and poisons, disaster preparedness or veterinary workforce shortages--and that page will offer a simple set of links to issue-specific press releases, photographs, Web resources, brochures, backgrounders, podcasts, audio files, videos, speeches and articles from the archives of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, among other resources.
On the AVMA Media Library, journalists can resource over a hundred audio news releases, public service announcements, podcasts and videos, all available immediately for download and broadcast on Web sites, radio stations and television. From intelligent videos on breaking news like H1N1 influenza to a deep archive of audio files on pets, horse ownership, livestock and veterinary medicine, the Media Library is another great example of the expanded resources for journalists on the AVMA Press Room.
For more information, please visit www.avma.org, and to visit the new and improved AVMA Press Room go to http://www.avma.org/press/default.asp.
The AVMA and its more than 78,000 member veterinarians are engaged in a wide variety of activities dedicated to advancing the science and art of animal, human and public health. Visit the AVMA Web site at www.avma.org for more information.
SOURCE American Veterinary Medical Association
