Pitch perfect
Over the years, communications professionals have pitched me hundreds of terrible ideas for news stories. In most cases, the pitches had no hook or news values such as:
1. Timeliness - news means now.
2. Proximity - people care about a house fire on their street, not in another town.
3. Prominence - everyone is interested when a fire breaks out at the home of a celebrity.
4. Some events are of obvious significance, such as a financial market crash, the outbreak of war or the cure for disease.
5. Human-interest stories will generate emotional connections.
6. Weird and quirky reports are always of interest!
7. Conflict in the battlefield, sports arena, corporate boardroom, legislature, etc., easily earn media coverage.
8. It has to be relatable. International supply chain issues may be boring until they affect the flavour of coffee at Tim Horton’s.
The challenge for communicators is that news values are subjective. Not only that, good news judgment develops with experience. When communications officers tried to convince me that the most incremental and mundane developments were worthy of a national news story, I would ask at least one of the following questions, “What’s the hook? Why should the audience care? Why now? How does this advance the story?”
As a professional communicator, it is your responsibility to have answers to those questions.
Start by writing a focus statement that features a verb and the word ‘because’. Finding your focus will help you explain what the news is and why it’s newsworthy. Here’s an example, “Our college is launching a new program in addictions and mental health treatment because there is a nation-wide shortage of trained people to cope with the opioid crisis in just about every workplace, company and public facility.”
How many news values are in this statement? Not enough. The proximity will appeal to campus and community media, but the timeliness is tenuous. Don’t give up! Be resourceful and find ways to add news value.
Reach out to a downtown homeless shelter. Find an employee who would bring journalists inside the facility and explain the need for more well-trained colleagues? Just talking to that person will likely improve your pitch. How about finding a client who’s been on a waiting list for addictions counselling for three years? Maybe you make the call that the pitch should be delayed until you have a genuine news hook, such as the students’ first work placement or the release of a national report on mental health at homeless shelters.
Don’t overlook the importance of pitching the right people. Identify journalists who report on health, poverty, city news and education.
Sometimes significant events will dominate the news cycle and take up all of the oxygen. When former U.S. President Barack Obama visited Ottawa in 2009, he generated international, national, local, political, human interest, national security and traffic news. Use your news judgment and accept that you can’t compete. Wait it out. Soon enough it’ll be summer, March Break or the winter holidays. Times when journalists struggle to find news to report. Especially those young ones with few vacation days. That was me in 2001 and right before Christmas when I had no choice but to cover a holiday party for Calgary ferrets and their owners. That said, it had news value because the story was both quirky and timely.
