Getting started with the media - building relationships with journalists (no armour required)
For some of my clients, the prospect of engaging with the media for the first time feels like being asked to play Quidditch - the rules are opaque, the other players seem to know how to fly a broomstick, the Golden Snitch appears highly elusive and, above all, it looks dangerous.
In my experience, there are ways of entering the game that can overcome these perceived barriers, make good use of that most scarce resource - your time - and really pay dividends in the long run.
The benefits of venturing onto the pitch are several-fold. Media coverage is an opportunity to represent the communities you serve or the policy changes you want to see to a wider audience, including policy-makers who may otherwise be hard to reach. Coverage may also be seen by funders and supporters or partners, building credibility, name recognition - potentially bolstering income generation.
So, where to start?
Building a relationship with a journalist you respect, whose work and interests intersect with yours, is easier than you may think.
Fieldwork: First up, identify journalists who focus on the issue/s you work on, whose commentary you find useful, interesting. They may be sector specialists, perhaps they’re at a newspaper or station in your local area, do a podcast or they may have lived experience of the issue you work on. Read/listen to their reports, not just to be informed but to understand what interests them - what, of all the stories they get pitched, they choose to cover (top tip - it’s unlikely to be an event).
As an expert in your field, you have a lot to offer them. You know the issues that are bubbling up or on the horizon, you have insights from the people you serve, you may be doing research that would enrich their understanding of an issue they are following. You are an asset.
So, you’ve identified a journalist whose work you respect. You’ve recognised insights you have from the coal-face of your work that aren’t yet being covered in the media or may be on the horizon.
Contact: The next step is to send them an email (almost all are firstname.surname@outletURL - eg. jon.jones@theoutlet.com - many will have their email address on their bluesky, X or outlet profile page).
In your email, briefly (they’re all doing a huge amount of work under a great deal of pressure and get a lot of emails)
outline your/your organisation’s area of expertise
mention a recent relevant article/interview they’ve done (and why it’s interesting/relevant)
say you’d love to have a brief chat with them about [the insight you’ve identified].
Your subject header really matters given the traffic in their inbox, so make it specific and to the point.
3. The conversation: They’ve replied to your email (yes, they have!) and you’ve arranged a time to talk.
Approach the conversation as you would any high-value meeting. Prepare - think about what you want from it, the most important points/issues you want to get across, what you have to offer, be ready for any tricky issues or questions that may come up. Journalists do good chat, so you won’t have to carry the conversation on your own.
It can be a good idea to be clear at the outset that you’d like to talk ‘off the record’ so you can speak freely - very few journalists would quote a ‘source’ from this kind of conversation, but if you work in a sensitive area this may be a risk worth mitigating so you don’t need to worry about it.
A conversation like this is the beginning of a relationship. Sometimes it can give rise to a published or broadcast story quite quickly - this has happened for several of my clients. At other times it builds the foundations for future contributions - a request for a comment on a breaking story, an interview to provide context or you may collaborate to bring an issue to light.
4. Follow-up: Many journalists work at a pretty fast pace so if you’ve said you’ll share something with them, don’t leave it too long. If they’ve asked for a comment it may be for a story they’re writing right now so check their deadline - you may have hours rather than days.
5. You are an asset: Through all this, remember, you’re an asset. If you don’t hear back from your initial approach don’t be down-hearted - they may well have registered your email, be too busy to respond immediately, and may come to you later when they’re working on a related issue. In this case give it a few days/a week and follow up.
If you don’t hear back from your follow-up, don’t write them off. Contact them if there are relevant developments on issues you both have an interest in, to add insight to a piece they have published or if you’re working on new research or a report.
6. Spread your bets: for sure there is more than one journalist whose interests intersect with your expertise.
Side benefits from building relationships like this are that you’ll learn through these interactions more about what makes the news and why, how journalists work and think.
This is just one of many ways to start to build your organisation’s profile in the media in a measured, manageable way, no suit of armour required. I’ll talk about some other approaches in future posts.
I’m always happy to have a chat if you’ve got any questions or just want to chew things over in a free 15 minute zoom discovery call. Contact Me Here.
