4 pitching tips from a busy journalist
From sharing an exclusive to defending the newsworthiness of your pitch, here’s what you need to know if you want to see your story in print.
The Austin Business Journal‘s Sandra Zaragoza recently explained how she likes to hear about stories from businesses and nonprofits around Austin.
Here are some of the helpful ideas that came out of our conversation.
Exclusives. If reporters live for breaking news, then they just about kill for an exclusive. What is an exclusive? It’s a story with true news potential that is so fresh that no media outlet has reported on it yet. It must be a story that has a sense of urgency and significance for a media outlet’s audience.
Warning: If you don’t plan to make the news an exclusive with a media outlet like the Austin Business Journal, then tell the reporter up front that you’re planning to share it with other news media. They may not like it, but at least they will know not to feature it as an exclusive.
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