Earn Media Coverage

Develop a Newsworthy "Story Idea" 

Formulating a story idea to pitch to a newspaper or television reporter is a great way to get your message out when you are trying to reach the public or influence the public debate on an issue. 

A term of art in the media relations business, a “story idea” is an idea for a story that a reporter is inspired to write for a newspaper or produce for a television newscast. A story idea that you develop must embody your message—otherwise developing and pitching it are not worth the effort.

Let’s say your message is that jet skis destroy marine environments and need to be banned from national parks. Your story idea might be about an incident in which a jet ski, operated in an environmentally sensitive area of a park, destroyed the habitat of a bird species.

If you can persuade a reporter to use your story idea, you’ll move your message into the public arena. But first you have to determine what kinds of story ideas will appeal to your targeted reporters—that is, what is newsworthy--as well as distinguish between breaking news and feature story news.

 

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