This manual is issued to you as a guide and tool in planning and executing effective public relations with the media and the community. It will also serve as an information device to build a positive relationship between your lodge and the media (press) in your area.
Lodge size or economic condition should not prevent you from sending out regular chapter newsletters or notices of activities. Lodges cannot afford not to communicate.
Remember, the task is not only to inform those who participate on a regular basis but also to reach out to those who due to distance, illness or any other reason are not regular attendees of lodge meetings and Masonic activities. If you don’t have a lodge newsletter or trestleboard which is published on a regular basis, perhaps the time is now to invest some of your resources to implement this communication tool to enhance the channel of communication with your members. Of course, there are times when you have a story or activity that you want to see published in the local newspaper or featured on your local radio station.
Your important task will be to select (if you have not already done so) a member of your lodge interested in serving as Publicity Chairman. No special experience or background is required, interest and enthusiasm would be helpful and a genuine desire to get the “positive word” about the Masonic fraternity circulated in the public eye. The Worshipful Master is also highly encouraged to appoint a committee of three members to organize, set goals and to take the initiative in enhancing your public relations effort.
The Grand Lodge Officers hope that this information will be helpful to you in developing your lodge’s on-going public relations program and that it will be a resource tool to your publicity chairman and committee.
