Media Outreach Database (RFI)

The Federa Trade Commission (FTC)’s Office of Public Affairs (OPA) is responsible for informing the public about the FTC’s diverse law enforcement actions and policy work. The office is the agency’s main point of contact with the news media. One of OPA’s primary objectives is to ensure that American consumers have a high awareness and understanding of the FTC’s work. To perform its media outreach function, OPA relies on media outreach services to find and contact members of the media, bloggers and influencers and to distribute via email news releases and other critical information to organizations and individuals in a timely fashion. A small number of releases are also distributed to the major newswires annually via the service. The staff also relies on the service to find media coverage and social media postings related to the FTC. The FTC has a robust public affairs operation, often distributing multiple news releases daily to lists of media contacts, with lists customized and directed at reporters, bloggers and influencers who cover specific subjects or issue areas, as well as reporters in particular geographic areas. Having access to a rich, up-to-date, media contact database and a fully functioned email distribution service that enables the agency to send releases to the media quickly and efficiently is essential to OPA’s operations.