A thread () for businesses pitching stories to journalists about expectations of securing coverage based on a couple of recent experiences... (1/11)

I'm really lucky to get people pitching me interesting ideas for news stories, many of which are exclusive/have exclusive lines - and I'm thankful to those who do! But I have had a couple of experiences recently that think are instructive for businesses to know...

One example was a company coming to me to tell me about a new (large) funding round they had secured and wanted to give me the exclusive. It was great: they're a growing business in a culturally interesting area, and their valuation was big. But...

They wanted mainstream (read: national newspaper) coverage. I tried to explain why the readers of those publications wouldn't be interested, and they wouldn't get coverage commensurate to what they thought the importance of the news was. I offered to pitch it to editors I knew.

But no, they wanted a paper, so said they'd try independently. They got 200 words in a daily, where they were barely mentioned, and all the things they highlighted as cool weren't covered. They then came back and asked if I'd be interested in doing a non-exc followup (no, obv).

I get it: this is someone who I know, who has spent a lot of effort, time and money investing in their business - with great success. But their area is a niche one, and as an impartial, detached journalist I can tell a paper wouldn't be as interested as a tech website

Case study number two: the CEO of a business came to me last week with a pretty big story about a contract issue in their industry. Problems are: (1) it's a contract issue, and (2) the industry - and where they're based - make them non-mainstream in the eyes of many.

But it's a good story and IMO is quite significant, so I've pitched it in good faith to editors at a number of publications, who told me (1) and (2) above. That CEO has followed up today with me in a message. "The story didn't appear anywhere," as if they're disappointed in me.

Again, I get it. It's their business, and the contract issue affects them significantly. But personal interest in a story clouds your judgement as to its importance, and even though I may think it's a story, I'm not the last person who needs to be convinced - my editors are.

This happens quite a lot where people believe their business deserves/demands coverage. Often they're right, but they set their sights too high about where coverage should end up, or don't acknowledge that sometimes things don't work out.

Some takeaways!
- Try to remember you're personally invested in the story: an outsider might not see the urgency you do
- You can be a big fish in a small pond, but you're seeking coverage in a big pond
- Journalists don't try to stop stories: the more I pitch the more I get paid