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Strategic Public Relations
When to Pitch A Story
Feature Story
What’s the most important factor in placing a feature
story idea? The timing—the earlier the pitch, the better
your chance of placing your story (of course, we’re
talking weeks or months in advance, not years!). Here’s
why:
Since features are longer, more in-depth, and more
analytical than breaking news stories, reporters need
more time to research and write them. Feature writers
and producers often schedule the feature pieces they
want to develop months in advance. So you need to pitch
early to get on their schedules. At newspapers, feature
stories are often written by reporters who also handle
breaking news. Because breaking news takes precedence
over feature news (which usually has a longer shelf
life), it sometimes takes time to get a reporter to
focus on a feature story idea.
A note: when you’re close to “hooking” a reporter with
your story idea, the reporter will probably ask if
reporters at other newspapers or television stations
have expressed interest in your idea or plan to write or
produce a piece on it. Unlike breaking news, which is
covered by many outlets at once (unless the story is an
exclusive; see below), feature stories usually appear in
only one outlet at a time. If a reporter at one
newspaper commits to the story, he or she will probably
ask you to tell anyone else considering the story idea
that you’re working with a competitor. Reporters at
competing outlets don’t like to look as if they are
copying each other.
Breaking News Story
Breaking news stories are usually pitched just before
your press conference or the time that your story idea
will be considered “today’s news” (several days to a
week in advance). The main exception: you’re releasing a
long or complex report and want to give reporters more
time to absorb the information, conduct research of
their own, and find and interview spokespeople. In that
case, make your pitch calls and provide materials
earlier (a couple of weeks in advance), clearly
indicating that you are doing so on “an embargoed
basis.” (National outlets often need materials even
earlier: three to four weeks in advance.)
An embargo tells reporters that while they can research
and write or produce their stories, they may not print
or air those stories before the embargo is lifted. The
risk is that with the information in hand, reporters
could break the embargo, printing or airing the stories
before you want them to. Once one reporter breaks the
embargo, the rules of the “embargo game” allow everyone
else to follow suit. And the Internet makes it easy for
reporters to break embargoes by posting stories on their
media outlet’s Web site. But getting materials into the
hands of reporters early may be worth the risk of a
broken embargo if you believe that it will bring more
complete and in-depth coverage (see Press Release
Embargo).
Exclusive Story
You’ll almost always find it to your advantage to pitch
as many outlets as possible when trying to place a
story. But on rare occasions you may believe that your
message will be most effectively communicated by one
media outlet and decide to pitch your story idea to that
outlet as an “exclusive.”
The main reason for offering an exclusive usually is to
increase your chances of having a major national media
outlet or program pick up your story idea. If a reporter
at 60 Minutes, for example, knows that he or she will be
the only reporter producing or writing a piece based on
your story idea, that reporter may be more inclined to
commit to doing so.
This strategy works far better for feature story ideas
than breaking news. Reporters at competitive media
outlets resent being squeezed out of a breaking news
story, particularly one with wide-ranging consequences
and implications. This point cannot be emphasized
enough. Giving a significant breaking news story idea to
only one media outlet may undermine your credibility
with the rest of the press corps with whom you interact,
and the consequences can be long lasting.
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