CSUN’s Marketing and Communications is staffed with professional communicators who have extensive experience in dealing with the media on a daily basis. The office works with all media, including on-campus publications, local, state, national and international press, in all formats — print, broadcast and digital. Our staff issues media releases, assists with media events and handles all the university’s strategic communications. We can assist you in publicizing news that has a university connection. Our office also maintains a list of faculty experts outside media can contact for informed comments on timely topics. Contact the Office of Media Relations at (818) 677-2130 for assistance.
Media Relations
Media relations functions include building relationships with media representatives, developing and targeting the distribution of news releases, responding to inquiries from reporters and identifying expert sources among faculty and staff. We also provide the university community informal media training, assist in communications management and help coordinate interviews and media appearances.
Experts Directory
The CSUN Experts Directory is an easy-to-use resource available online for journalists seeking specialists to comment on issues. The directory includes listings for more than 300 CSUN scholars covering more than 100 topical areas of expertise. Faculty experts also speak more than two dozen different languages and are able to assist journalists around the world.
Help When a Reporter Calls for CSUN Faculty and Staff
If a reporter contacts you, our office can provide training and support for an interview, or serve as a liaison if necessary. If you have a major paper published, a new research project underway, a major award you wish the community to know about, an event the public is invited to or any other publicity needs, the following guidelines should help you get started.
A story or event may by very important to its sponsors or the campus community, but whether it will receive outside media coverage depends on many factors, including the nature and significance of the news or event, whether it has broad appeal, timing and even what other news is happening that day. Given the limited size of the staff in Media Relations, unless it is breaking news, we need to know about an event at least two weeks or 10 working days before it happens. Please be sure to designate someone to act as a contact, for the media and the public, who is knowledgeable about the event.
For more general releases, we ask that you consider the audience you want to reach out to and realize that once we send a release out and post it in CSUN Today, everyone will have access to it.
Media Releases
Our staff will prepare media releases about news with broad public appeal, major grants and awards, events that are open to the public and other exceptional CSUN stories. In addition, we will pitch select stories to the news media. However, please be aware that in a major media market like Los Angeles, reporters have a lot to choose from and coverage is never guaranteed. To request a media release, contact Carmen Ramos Chandler, director of media relations, at (818) 677-2130 or .
Manage the Media at an Event for Faculty and Staff
Having media cover your event often requires special expertise. High-profile visitors may have security concerns and reporters may have particular equipment or seating needs. The Marketing and Communications team regularly works with the Office of Special Events to ensure that these issues are addressed in the early planning stages. For more information, contact the Office of Marketing and Communications at (818) 677-2130.
Public Records Requests
The California Public Records Act (Gov. Code section 6250, et seq.) and the CSU Auxiliary Organizations Transparency and Accountability Act (SB 8) allows members of the public to inspect and receive copies of public documents maintained by CSUN and its auxiliary organizations. Visit the Public Records Requests page to learn more about submitting requests for inspection or copying of public records and for contact information for CSUN’s Public Records Act Coordinator.