TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1828 SUBJECT: Publicizing GRB Discoveries - A Message from NASA HQ DATE: 03/01/17 15:55:02 GMT FROM: Nick White at NASA/HQ/GSFC Publicizing GRB Discoveries - A Message from NASA HQ We would like to remind the gamma ray burst community that NASA HQ has an effective mechanism for disseminating science stories to the press via Space Science Updates and press releases. The Space Science Updates are press conferences held at NASA HQ reserved for the most exciting and high impact new results related to NASA Space Science Missions. These invariably result in broad coverage for the science result in the press and on TV. To effectively use this mechanism and maximize the coverage of new Gamma Ray burst discoveries NASA HQ needs to be aware of any "breaking news". Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind, to help us, help you maximize the impact of the exciting new science from Gamma ray bursts: - If you believe you have an exciting result, please contact us at NASA HQ as soon as possible (see the contact names given below). - Continue to use the GCN as you do today, but please also contact HQ if you believe your GCN posting is newsworthy. While we do monitor the GCN, it is easy to miss the key notice when many are generated by an exciting new burst. - When you submit what may be a newsworthy paper, please also send a copy to us at NASA HQ. We will evaluate whether it can be used for a press release, or a Space Science Update. We will respect the confidentiality of the results and quickly comment on whether the paper is newsworthy. - Do NOT post the paper onto the preprint servers until we have had time to comment on the news potential of the result. Once a paper is posted, it becomes old news and it is difficult to use that result for a Space Science Update. If your result has news potential we will rapidly arrange a Space Science Update or press release to help publicize the results, and give you further information on what needs to be done. Please do not hesitate to contact one or all of us if you have a potential story or any questions. We also welcome suggestions as to how to maximize the coverage of these events. The contact information is: Nicholas White, nicholas.e.white@nasa.gov, 202-358-0357 Don Kniffen, dkniffen@hq.nasa.gov, 202-358-0351 Paul Hertz, paul.hertz@hq.nasa.gov, 202-358-0986