By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
Before I launched MACIAS PR in 2009, I spent years approving stories as an Executive Producer with NBC and CBS in New York. Every day I reviewed dozens of story ideas from reporters, producers and publicists. Most never made it on the air.
What surprised me most wasn’t that publicists lacked media contacts. It was that many never understood how journalists actually decide what becomes news. The technology has changed since my newsroom days.
AI, social media and digital publishing have transformed journalism. But the fundamentals of what makes a story worthy of coverage haven’t changed. Here are the ten biggest lessons I learned from sitting on the other side of the pitch.
1. Your Story Angle Matters More Than Your Company
The biggest mistake I saw was simple: people pitched announcements instead of stories. A reporter doesn’t wake up hoping someone launches a new product.
They wake up looking for a story their audience will care about. Many pitches spent paragraphs describing a company before ever explaining why the story mattered. Others never explained the story at all.
Before you write a single sentence, answer one question: Why would someone who has never heard of your company care about this?
If you can’t answer that in one sentence, you probably don’t have a story yet.
2. Reporters Don’t Care About Your Announcement
One of the hardest lessons for business owners to accept is that an announcement is rarely news.
“We got a new office” is not newsworthy. Neither is news about your new CEO, partnership or funding round. They might be important milestones inside your company. They are not automatically important to a journalist’s audience.
The story is almost always bigger than the announcement. Ask yourself what trend, conflict, problem or insight your announcement reveals. That’s where the coverage lives.
3. Stop Using Marketing Language
Nothing makes a reporter lose interest faster than reading words like:
- Revolutionary
- Industry-leading
- Cutting-edge
- Best-in-class
- World-class
- Innovative solution
- Game-changing
Marketing language signals that someone is trying to sell rather than inform. Journalists are trained to filter out promotional writing almost instantly. Replace adjectives with facts. Data beats hype every time.
4. Don’t Ask for a Call So You Can Explain the Story
I received plenty of emails asking if I had “15 minutes to hear more.” No.
If your pitch doesn’t explain the story, I’m probably not scheduling a meeting to find out what it is. The initial pitch should contain enough information for a reporter to decide whether it’s worth pursuing. If they’re interested, they’ll ask their own questions. That’s their job.
5. Timing Is Part of the Strategy
I’ve seen excellent stories fail simply because they arrived at the wrong moment. Journalists work around deadlines, editorial meetings, breaking news and production schedules. A great pitch delivered at the wrong time can disappear beneath hundreds of other emails.
At MACIAS PR, timing is part of our strategy because we understand newsroom workflows. That’s one of the advantages of having journalists on your side.
6. Media Contacts Are an Assist—Not the Strategy
People often ask whether we have contacts at major media outlets. Of course we do. But contacts don’t convince reporters to cover weak stories.
The best reporters I worked with couldn’t be pressured into covering something that wasn’t newsworthy. Relationships help ensure your email gets opened. The story determines whether it gets covered. That’s an important distinction many companies miss.
7. Stop Calling Reporters—Even From a Blocked Number
I always hated seeing my phone ring while working on a deadline. The difference today is that phone follows you everywhere.
Some publicists think a blocked call will help. Nope, it doesn’t. Cold calling journalists rarely changes the outcome.
If the story is compelling, they’ll respond. If it isn’t, interrupting their day usually makes things worse. Respect how reporters work. Earn their attention instead of demanding it.
8. Press Releases Don’t Lead to Earned Media Coverage
Press releases still have value by putting something on the official record. But reporters almost never decide to write a story because they received a press release. Coverage starts with an idea.
The press release supports the story after a reporter becomes interested—not before. Too many companies spend weeks perfecting a release and only minutes thinking about the actual news angle.
9. Every Journalist Wants Something Different
One-size-fits-all pitching doesn’t work.
TV producers think visually, while print reporters often want exclusive information and deeper context. Online journalists typically need speed, clear sourcing and searchable facts.
The same story can be pitched three different ways depending on who receives it. Understanding how each newsroom works dramatically improves your odds of getting coverage.
10. Don’t Spam Reporters
Nothing damages your reputation faster than sending the same generic email to hundreds of journalists. Reporters notice. Many share bad pitches with colleagues. Some permanently block repeat offenders.
A smaller list of carefully selected reporters with a highly relevant pitch will almost always outperform mass distribution. Quality always wins.
The Biggest Lesson
Looking back, one lesson stands above everything else. Journalists don’t cover companies. They cover stories.
That’s the difference between public relations that generates headlines and public relations that fills inboxes with unanswered emails. If you focus first on the story, everything else—from the pitch to the reporter list to the timing—becomes significantly easier.
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If you’re preparing for a product launch, funding round or growth phase, contact MACIAS PR to learn how strategic public relations can help accelerate your business goals. You can get a customized PR quote for your business or product launch from MACIAS PR by clicking here.
ABOUT MACIAS PR
MACIAS PR was founded in 2009 by Mark Macias – Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. City & State Magazine named Macias one of the top 50 PR Power Players in New York while Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the 2017-2020 Strategic PR Firm of the Year, and PR Firm of the Year. Macias is a frequent contributor for CNBC, Entrepreneur and Forbes.