Factors making good copy for a media release:
(1) wrongdoing, with questions of responsibility and blame
(2) alleged secrets and cover-ups
(3) human interest through alleged heroes, villains, etc.
(4) strong visual impact
(5) links to existing high-profile issues or personalities
(6) reference back to other prominent stories
(7) conflict of opinion, especially between experts
(8) promise of further problems ("tip of the iceberg")
(9) many people exposed to risk, even if only low risk
(10) links to sex or crimes
In the implementation, I made a simple Likert scale of 0 to 3 for each factor.
