Ed Day, Press Officer at the Science Media Centre and Stempra Treasurer shares tips from the journalists you pitch to every day.
A key session at our annual Communications Training Day is the journalists panel, and it’s always one of the highlights. It’s no surprise that it was another fantastic session this year, chaired by Gaby Richter, senior comms officer at the Institute of Cancer Research.We’re grateful (as always) to the journalists who gave up their time to come and be quizzed by a room of 200 communicators!
This year we were joined by:
- Sam Blanchard, Health Correspondent, The Sun
- Ella Pickover, Health Correspondent, PA
- Steph Spyro, Deputy Political Editor and Environment Editor, Express
- Carissa Wong, Health Reporter, New Scientist.
It was a diverse panel covering a range of news beats across tabloids, broadsheets, and news wires, the panel offered a great look at how different newsrooms work and what makes a story land. They also shared plenty of simple, practical tips for communications officers – here are my top ones:
Before you pitch
1. Pick your timing
Giving advance notice of your story to the journalist means they have more time to write up the story. Pitch earlier in the day and week – when things aren’t yet piling up. And know what else is going on that day or week in the news to see if there’s space for that story. Tools like Google Trends or a quick scroll of that morning’s news can help you sense-check the timing before you hit send.
2. Tailor your pitches to the right journalist and outlet
Look up a journalist’s beat and what kinds of stories they cover before pitching (for example, Steph Spyro is a sucker for a penguin story!). Read the publications to find out which kinds of stories work for the different editorial lines of the tabloids, broadsheets, and specialist publications.
3. Press release or an exclusive?
It’s worth thinking about which format suits your story. A lot of journalists love exclusives, and they can be a great way to land a more in-depth piece on a specific story, or to revitalise something where you missed the embargo on on the original source.
While crafting your story
4. Cut the jargon
Another unifying tip from the journalists. Use language that journalists (and the public) can understand. This helps them grasp what the story is, and whether it works for their publication. Providing spokespeople that can speak in plain terms adds to this. Make sure the topline is clear and the most important part of the story so they immediately understand the significance, and whether they should report it.
5. Think about how to ‘frame’ a story
“How can we convince you to cover basic science?” comes up every year – and the journalists suggest making it visual and human. Describing a bacterium’s defence mechanism as a “suit of armour” or a cellular process as “the cells cloaking devices” makes it simple and interesting to the public. A good frame doesn’t dumb things down, it opens a door.
6. Humanise your stories
Help the public understand why the piece matters – who it affects, how it might help them. All of this makes a journalist’s job easier. If it’s appropriate, provide a case study, someone the journalist can interview with that condition, or who’s been affected by the issue.
When a story goes live
7. Be fast
Journalists are under intense time pressures and often write many stories a day, so they need you to be ready when they get in touch. If they ask for materials, quotes, or an interview, get back to them as quickly as possible. Better still, include the paper alongside the press release, and definitely don’t put it on some dodgy website. Make sure your spokespeople for that story are available to answer the journalists’ questions before embargo, so you’re not scrambling at 4pm on a Friday.
8. Embrace video
The media landscape is changing, and journalism is following its audience to social media – which means ramping up their video content. Short form videos are particularly useful to newsrooms,so providing clips of scientists explaining their work, lab in action, or even a simple demonstration can be useful. It doesn’t need to be broadcast quality.
9. Stay in touch
A clear (and obvious but often forgotten) tip from all the journalists: stay in touch. Keep them updated on what interesting stories you’ve got coming up. Building relationships with journalists means they’re more likely to open your email and have a look at your press release or pitch.
Overall, it was a really engaging start to the training day. We all learnt (or were reminded) of a lot of useful tips! Which of these resonate with you? Share your thoughts with the Stempra community on social or the mailing list.