How To Pitch Your Story To The Media

Businessdriver

December 8th, 2011

Betty Beard is the Arizona Republic's Economy reporter

Like anyone else, our members love to see their companies in the news. Some may not realize the best ways to go about pitching a story about themselves to the media, so we asked Betty Beard, economy reporter for The Arizona Republic, a few questions about things to do - and not to do - when asking a reporter to "read all about it."

Q. Many people think they have a great story that should be covered by the news media, but what really makes a great story that a reporter or assignment editor can’t pass up?
A. The best stories are the ones that pass the “Hey, Martha” test – stories that are so interesting or dramatic that you feel compelled to tell someone (a friend, relative or co-worker) about them. In business reporting, this might be a great number of hires or a major new innovative product or service. But what may be "newsy" in the business world or within a company may not be "newsy" to us or to the public. But when in doubt, go ahead and report it. Your pitch may be just what we need for an article. Or you may be telling us about a company we didn’t know about and reporters may stow the information away for future reference.

Q.What are a couple of key mistakes business people make when pitching a story to you?
A. One major one is pitching what is essentially an advertisement for a company as news. Too often business people will say something like “This being national secretary’s week, we want to tell you about some new software that will make the work of a secretary easier.” Another is not realizing that we don’t have the time, staff or space that we used to. Newspapers are not only physically smaller and fewer in number but have smaller staffs. What we might have written about in the past we may no longer have the staff to report. Press releases need to be complete. Earlier this year I was sent a press release (actually a good story) that was essentially links to a bunch of Web sites. The more time you can save us, the more likely you will get a write up. It's definitely a mistake to ignore our Community sections and reporters. The Arizona Republic has business reporters scattered all over Maricopa County and sometimes it’s easier for them to write about local businesses. The articles they write are often republished in the main Business section. Finally, failing to understand that newspapers have their own standards and policies governing news. The Republic, for example, typically does not write about brand new companies but prefers to let them age about a year. But there are always exceptions.

Q. What’s the best way to send information – email, snail mail, fax or phone?
A. Definitely %20newstips [at] arizonarepublic [dot] com (email). We so rarely get snail mail or faxes that we rarely check those.

Q. How much follow-up is just enough and how much is too much?
A. I often get calls from public relations people asking if I received an email. I easily get 50 emails a day and don’t remember them all. But I understand that people want feedback and try to be helpful. Personally, I think one follow-up phone call is enough and in some cases, where the news is minor, more than enough.

Q. If someone’s story isn’t covered, then what? What do they do?
A. Make sure you communicated with the right person, the reporter who covers that “beat” or geographical area. It’s also a good idea to copy story pitches to editors, in case a reporter is absent. But I think it’s safe to say that the bottom line is that the majority of story pitches are not covered because they are not considered newsy enough or because we don’t have the staff.