Hi all, my new boss is convinced that we can begin creating all our mailing lists for press releases, PSAs, etc. through Raiser's Edge.  I highly doubt this -- our media appears in records according to mailing address, so one constituent record might represent five different radio stations and 20 different DJs.  To even start this kind of effort, I think I'd need to add each individual contact as a constituent and create 15-20 new Attributes -- and even then, I don't think I could get the high level of customization that I am currently able to get doing it in Excel.

Does anyone else create mailing lists for the press thru Raiser's Edge?  And/or track media results by attaching electronic clips to the constituent records?  Is there maybe an optional module that is designed to handle media/press information?

I was asked to do this for our PR dept. years ago.  As you stated, I created several attributes and contact types (rather than Individual records for each contact) to comply with their request.  It could work if the people who are to manage this mailing list learn and utilize the customization, but our PR dept. never did.

In reply to the second part of your question, we find that uploading media to the media tab takes a lot of space and do not utilize that feature.

We use RE to mail to media and it works well.  Each media has its own constituent record.  Each record are coded with a constituent code "MEDIA" which allow me to pull them aside for a special mailing or remove them from fundraising mailings.  I have two contact types: "Key media" and "Info".  Key media allow me to extract important people who receive exclusive news.  Info people receives our newsletter only.  This is especially interesting if you mail to several individuals within the media, especially newspapers and TV stations, where the general Editor or influencial columnists receives mailings, but also people working on specialised shows or sections on Health related matters.  

 In general, I would not recommend using RE for this, but more for philosophical reasons than pratical ones (one constituent code and two contact types are not a big deal - but the idea that I have non-donors or non-volunteers in the DB simply annoys me.)

 For your second question, we do not use the Media Tab to record mass mailings.