Chapter 2: The Press: Merchants of Exposure

It’s not 2:25 A.M. The rain isn’t falling sideways. There’s no fedora-topped mystery man lurking in an underpass, whispering into the ear of that reporter.

That isn’t how it works at all. Hollywood serves up this image of journalistic intrigue, but it’s total nonsense. Everything happens by painstaking process. It’s PR people like us, and ultimately you, that do the “whispering” to journalists looking for stories like yours. And trust us, they’re happy to know you.

Reality Doesn’t Have to Bite

To understand how journalism works, let’s talk a bit about how it doesn’t work. And this way you can save a lot of money by not going to journalism school. First, journalists don’t hide in the shadows and fraternize with some musty underground for the big scoop. They are at their desks, waiting for the phone to ring or e-mail to ping with a really good idea.

The media works like you do, hurried and under the gun, facing crazy hours and a spouse always on them to pick up milk before they come home. They also are working under sometimes trying circumstances, to the best of their abilities. Anyone who can give them a story for the day, allowing them time to breathe and to forgo the drama of late-night stints, will surely have another press clip to hang in their lobby.

When they are at a loss for news, reporters rely on creative, connected businesspeople and a gaggle of experts for the news about the topics they are most interested in. Those topics are sometimes called “beats,” and often reporters will specialize in certain areas, but the stories they’re after can be simply what they find interesting that day.

But getting your story above the fold (that is, the top half of the front page) doesn’t happen with merely a phone call to the news desk and a snappy pitch. You have to work well with journalists, treat them properly, and deliver the goods.

At major publications and outlets—USA Today and Good Morning America, to name a couple—a single journalist’s or producer’s day is interrupted by hundreds of unsolicited story pitches. No other employee, except a call-center representative or a 911 operator, has to manage so many inbound calls each day. Given that scenario, face or phone time simply doesn’t come easily. For journalists, looming deadlines mean the clock rules their world, too. To be successful, you have to convince them that their interaction with you isn’t going to be a colossal waste of time. Instead, they have to be certain that you are going to make the second hand tick a little slower by providing exactly what they need, and by being timely and responsible. Tick. Tock.

The key is just good, old-fashioned understanding! A real pro knows that journalists have a tough job. Near-impossible deadlines, whip-cracking editors, and hundreds of less- professional pitches than yours are inbound daily to create a challenging environment that even the most fast-paced, brilliant reporter finds difficult to cope with.

This means that as your own little PR machine, the odds are stacked against you every time you pick up the phone or click send. But don’t let any of this discourage you from pitching, because the fact is that, contrary to popular belief, journalists and publications depend on good PR sources. If you can help journalists tame the fury of their stress-filled days, they will be all ears to you.