story pitching: how to stay in tune with reporters' needs

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 1/40

Tom Banse

Thanks for joining us. We will begin a few minutes

past the hour to allow everyone time to settle in.

Sian Wu

Story Pitching: How to Get in Tune

with Reporters’ Needs

 November 2010 

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 2/40

About Resource Media

•  Communications Strategy•  Execution and Outreach

•  Digital and Social Media

•  Environmental and Health Focus

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 3/40

Staff

309

Offices

San Francisco Seattle Boulder Kalispell Sacramento

Bozeman Portland Salt Lake City Anchorage

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 4/40

 Have a question? Need help?

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 5/40

1. Research your pitch

2. Practice your pitch

3. Practice good reporter etiquette

4. Understand your audience: the media

5. Make it memorable: hooks and angles

6. Special Guest: NPR Reporter Tom Banse

What we’llcover today

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 6/40

Tuning up:

research your pitch 1

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 7/40

First ask:

• How will media achieve my

end goal?

• No media is a strategy

Think strategy

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 8/40

•  Aggressive?

•  Informative?

•  Buzz-building?

•  Base-activating?

What kind of story do you want?

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 9/40

•  Has this been covered before?

•  Who’s been quoted on this?

•  How is the issue currently framed?

•  What types of outlets would be mostinfluential?

• Who writes on this?

•  Do we want to go national or localfirst? 

Do a sound check

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 10/40

Know their beats

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 11/40

Make a note of:

•  What they’re interested in

•  The stories/blogs they’ve written

•  Who doesn’t want to be called

• Who is on social media

•  Their status after your pitch

Keep tabs on them

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 12/40

Practice good

reporter etiquette 2

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 13/40

Be mindful of their lives:

•  Pitched by hundreds of people

•  Working on daily deadlines

•  Need to answer to their editors

•  Need a good visual (especially truefor TV)

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 14/40

•  “Just calling to follow up.”

• “Wanted to make sure yougot it.”

Irksome words

Sometimes I just

popup for no particular reason, like now.

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 15/40

Build relationships

Support their work by:

• Spreading good reporting to your

networks

• Posting stories to your blog andnewsletter

• Following reporters on Twitter and

retweeting their content

• Commenting on stories online 

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 16/40

Find them on Twitter

Media on Twitter:

• http://mediaontwitter.com

Muckrack:

• http://muckrack.com

 Journalist Tweets:

• http://journalisttweets.com/search

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 17/40

Grace under fire

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 18/40

•  What are their pitchpreferences?

•  What are theyinterested in?

•  Where can you readmore or connect?

Listen

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 19/40

Know when to let go 

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 20/40

Understanding your

audience: the media 3

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 21/40

Stay in tune with a reporter’s needs

• Access to spokespeople

• Quality images, logos andvideo

• Embargo lift date and time

• Transparency

• Timeline of important decisions

• Access to primary documents

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 22/40

TV needs  

•  It’s all about the visual

• Don’t make them go the distance

• “If it bleeds it leads”

• Keep in mind competition andsweeps weeks

• Demonstrations and personality

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 23/40

Stay in tune with a reporter’s wants

•  Peculiarity

•  Proximity

•  Prominence

•  Promptness

• Peer review

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 24/40

•  Blatant self promotion

• Internal news

•  Opinion—ax to grind

•  Pitch robots

What strikes a bad chord?

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 25/40

Mending fences  

•  Recognize ideologically hostilepress

•  Show them you’re a real person

•  Change up your spokespeople

•  Hit other outlets

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 26/40

Make it memorable:

hooks and angles 4

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 27/40

Develop your news hook

What’s:

• New

• Interesting

• Surprising

• Timely

• Relevant or

• Localize a national story

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 28/40

What are the impacts that haven’tbeen covered yet?

• Economic

•  Political

•  Environmental

•  Social

•  Health

Identify the problem, substitute abetter question and reframepositively 

Find the right angle

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 29/40

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 30/40

It’s not all about you

Let the news lead with your organization as asupporting character in the story

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 31/40

Warming up:

practice your pitch5

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 32/40

Practice your pitch

•  Role play with a coworker

•  Think of tough reporter questions

•  For email pitches:

•  Lead with the big news

•  Keep it short

•  Use AP style and proofread

•  Stay jargon-free

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 33/40

•  Know the main messages

• Line up facts and figures

•  But don’t read from a script

Be prepared

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 34/40

Know your land mines

What topics are no-gozones?

Who can speak to that?Don’t say anything youwouldn’t want to see inthe story:

•  On the record

•  Off the record

•  On background

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 35/40

•  Consider how media will help you achieve your goal

•  Know your reporters really wellby being a news junkie

•  Understand reporter deadlinesand inboxes

•  All good stories need a good

hook•  News stories aren’t all about you

Reminders:

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 36/40

Special guest: Tom Banse 

Tom Banse

NorthwestRegionalCorrespondentNPR News

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 37/40

Sian Wu

Program DirectorSeattle Officesian@resource-media.org206.374.7795 x102

@ThatsSoEco

Tom Banse

Northwest RegionalCorrespondentNPR News

We welcome your questions!

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 38/40

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 39/40

Explore More RM Trainings• Blogger Relations – December

• Coming up in 2011:• Communicating science TBD

• Branding TBD

•  Interviewing and public speaking TBD

• LinkedIn for nonprofits TBD

8/8/2019 Story Pitching: How to Stay in Tune with Reporters' Needs

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/story-pitching-how-to-stay-in-tune-with-reporters-needs 40/40

In the

Beginning