Effective media relations are all about relationships: relationships with journalists, relationships with producers and relationships with media outlets, to name a few.
Renna Communications is perhaps best known for the breadth and quality of our relationships with well-placed media professionals. By leveraging these relationships on your behalf, we will help you develop the most important relationship of all: your relationship with the public.
As a client of Renna Communications, you will be able to overcome the most formidable barrier to getting your story told: accessing influential media professionals. With the name “Renna” in the “from” line, journalists and producers open our emails. When we call, they take our calls. As a result, your media releases get the attention they deserve, and you are then one step closer to telling your story to the public.
The journalists and producers we know work at the national, state and grassroots levels for print, broadcast and online media. We also have extensive contacts within a variety of niche media markets, including the LGBT community and the markets for youth, women, education, health, culture and religion. We groom all of our media relationships with honesty, follow-through and mutual respect.
Within the media industry, we are seen as much more than just publicists: we are known as experts and resources. In fact, journalists and producers often call us for assistance with stories that dovetail with the interests of current and past clients. And when the media are looking for comment on media trends or coverage analysis, they pick up the phone to see what we think as thought-leaders in the industry.
Julie Bolcer | Advocate.com | August 25, 2010
Everyone knows that insecurities and peer pressure make teenagers susceptible to tobacco use, but in the case of LGBT youths, it has long been suspected that the unique challenges associated with having a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity heighten their smoking risk. For the first time, a new survey explores the links between the stress of antigay discrimination and teenage tobacco use and suggests improved prevention strategies.

Hannah Clay Wareham | Bay Windows | August 24, 2010
A new report from the National LGBTQ Young Adult Tobacco Project, entitled “Coming Out About Smoking: Tobacco Use in the LGBTQ Young Adult Community” and released Aug. 24, revealed that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young adults have higher rates of smoking than their heterosexual peers. Results indicated that the disparity could be due to the added pressure and stress gay teens experience as a result of anti-LGBT discrimination at school and at home.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: L. Indra Lusero, Assistant Director, Palm Center, 303-902-9402, info@palmcenter.ucsb.edu
Cathy Renna, cathy@rennacommunications.com, 917-757-6123
Marine Corps Commandant Signals Last Days of Gay Ban
Marine Corps Would Not Obstruct New, Inclusive Policy
SANTA BARBARA, CA — August 25, 2010 — Remarks made yesterday at a Pentagon briefing by Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway signal the removal of one of the final hurdles to the implementation of openly gay service and the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Commandant Conway stated that “if the law changes, we pride our Corps in leading the services in many, many things, and we’re going to have to lead in this too.”
Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin stated, “Commandant Conway’s words are powerful. He has not been supportive of this change but he has now made clear that once the law is changed, the Marine Corps will set the pace for implementation of open service without delay.”

Lanae Erickson and Jon Cowan |“Politico::http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41214.html | August 19, 2010
This month, a federal district court judge in California struck down Proposition 8 — the state ballot measure that banned gay and lesbian couples from marrying — as unconstitutional, and the case is most likely to be settled by the Supreme Court. Although the decision has been stayed, many understandably saw it as a victory and perhaps an indication that legal arguments — not public persuasion — are going to be the fastest way to bring about equality.
But lawsuits are not a substitute for public support, and legal arguments do not operate in a vacuum. This decision makes it all the more crucial to build a solid majority of Americans who strongly support the full range of legal relationship recognition, including allowing gay couples to marry.
In our view, there are three essential steps to moving the persuadable middle.

Pentagon Leaders Advised to Expect “Business as Usual” After Repeal
OutServe | July 26, 2010
SANTA BARBARA, CA – July 26, 2010 — Gay and lesbian service members are organizing themselves in order to help the Pentagon prepare for life after “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This week, they are publicly launching OutServe (formerly known as Citizens for Repeal), the first-ever organization of actively serving gay troops and they have started speaking openly with Pentagon officials as well as public audiences. For information about the group go to www.outserve.org