The journal editor or editorial assistant will have the embargo date on your paper. You let your media person know, at least 2 weeks ahead of time, when your paper's coming out and when your embargo date is. Then that person, the university actually often times will review the paper and then will set up sort of a brief interview to make sure that he or she understands the gist of it, then drafts a press release. Then he and I go back and forth a little bit on the final editing of the press release.

If I'm collaborating with public agencies, then it's very important that they also have an advance copy so that they understand what is going to be released then and that they also understand that once that press release is finalized that the investigator has no control over what, for example, the Associated Press might do with that or what a radio station might edit in or out.

I think that the rule of thumb is you sort of set it up, and you get as many people involved and signed off on that press release and what is going to be the common themes for the sound bites for the radio or the TV, but then also with an understanding that that publication now is in public domain and that the investigator does not have any say over what that reporter or editor chooses to do with that information.

It's also quite humbling because although someone may think that their study is the latest and the greatest, the other thing you don't have control over with the media is you're not as important as other major events. If there's something that happened in a war, or, I had one of my studies come out on Inauguration Day. Well who am I? It was the president.