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How to get news coverage

Insights from the industry

By vPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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How to get news coverage
Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

Ever wondered what it took to have a TV reporter or a news station cover a story? Well, here is SOME insight as to how your event/situation/story could have a reporter knocking on your door for an interview.

First - determine how your story is "newsworthy". Figure out WHY a news station should cover your event. Some questions to ask - How does it impact the local community? Is it a unique story or situation? Does it highlight the efforts of a local individual?

Second - be open to being interviewed or connecting us with someone to interview. Include that when you are reaching out to a reporter or a station. If there is no possibility of having an on-camera interview, we are not even going to respond.

Third - pitch your story DIRECTLY to a reporter. Many stations have a news desk email that gets flooded with emails, a lot of it being junk/spam. If you pitch it to a reporter it will most likely get seen, and even passed along to other reporters if that one cannot cover it.

Fourth - If you are planning an event, and you want news coverage for that event, the best day might be Sunday or Monday. There are many events happening on Saturday, and the rest of the week is usually dominated by local issues, Sundays and Mondays are relatively slow.

Fifth, do not be offended if a reporter did not cover your story, and if someone with a camera shows up instead. Those are called "photogs', our term for photojournalists. You might know them as camera men. But do not call them that, they are technically photojournalists, and they deserve as much recognition as the reporter.

Sixth - leave contact information. A name, phone number, email, SOMETHING that we can use to reach out. And, it is okay to follow-up once to ask questions and to check in with the station, but if you do not hear back, do not be offended. Most newsrooms are understaffed, and most reporters can only deal with one story at a time, one day at a time. Some just get passed by while we are facing deadlines to meet.

Seventh - if it is an event, be sure to call/email the day of the event if you haven't heard back. Most stories aren't assigned/picked up until the day of.

Here is a pet peeve - if you headline your email as “BREAKING NEWS” in an attempt to be “funny”. Some PR professionals will play with news terms/words and it just adds to anxieties. Also, do not ask for “news coverage” or “can we get publicity for this event”. We’re not advertising agencies - we are storytellers. If there’s an interesting story, we will be there.

We are okay with being contacted through social media - some people have a hard time finding our email (it’s usually under a tab titled “Meet Our Team” or “Contact Us”.

Be patient with us if your story is not an event. If it’s something you want an “investigation” into, the reporters will probably need to have several meetings with their News Director + producers to determine how to fairly air the story. As much as you believe you have been wronged, the other side does deserve time to respond. And if they do not, then we include that in the story. Additionally, we have to do our due diligence with sources and verifying information.

These are just a few tips and tricks of the trade to understand what gets coverage and what doesn’t. There are a variety of factors that can influence this outcome, up until day of. If there’s breaking news, then there’s a possibility that even if we say we are going to an event, we won’t. Trust us, we’re either just as stressed and annoyed.

Also, reach out to your local reporter if you do enjoy seeing/hearing their stories. We’re flooded with complaints, and some of the emails we get are really nasty. Even seeing a “good job on that story” can make our day.

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v

always looking for the right words to say

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