By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
You’ve heard the old Wall Street line: Don’t fight the Fed. In today’s climate, businesses need a new mantra: Don’t fight the news cycle if you want media coverage.
Right now, the headlines are moving faster than most newsrooms can keep up. Between election-year politics, layoffs across major media companies, inflation updates, corporate restructurings, and global trade disputes, reporters are working with smaller teams and tighter deadlines.
When the national conversation is dominated by a handful of hard news topics, it’s not the time to push creative or feel-good angles. It’s the time to align your message with what the public—and the press—are already talking about.
2026 Will be another Hard News Cycle
We’ve seen this shift accelerate over the last few months. Major networks—including NBC, CBS, and others—have gone through structural changes and consolidation. Digital outlets have cut staff.
During cycles like this, journalists gravitate toward stories that connect directly to national headlines. They know editors are more likely to green-light ideas that sync with what viewers, readers, and algorithms are consuming in real time.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
If you want to get a reporter’s attention, relationships won’t save you — your pitch structure will.
After leading newsrooms for years, and now running MACIAS PR, I can tell you exactly what makes a pitch stand out inside a crowded inbox. These are the elements reporters scan for instinctively, often in seconds.
📐ANGLE — What’s the story here?
A strong angle gives the reporter clarity. If the story isn’t obvious immediately, it’s already a no. Reporters will always know why our story matters with MACIAS PR, and it will be clearly defined.
⤴ TREND — Why now?
MACIAS PR succeeds with our campaigns by creating the trend, and positioning our clients as the source or expert analyst behind the trend. This enables our PR agency to ride momentum rather than trying to create it from scratch.
📲DATA — Show, don’t tell.
Numbers add credibility. Data gives journalists a peg, context, and justification for why the story matters to the public. But you don’t just want any data. That’s the fastest way to the spam folder.
💬QUOTE — Human insight moves stories forward.
A compelling quote saves reporters time and elevates the piece. The perfect pitch will give them perspective, authority, or emotion — something we position our client to uniquely say. Personal stories are a major focal point behind many of our stories.
🎥 VISUAL — If they can “see” the story, they’ll cover it.
This is especially important for TV. Reporters and producers need images, charts, demos, or something visually concrete to support their coverage, especially for TV and digital newsrooms.
📍CTA — What do you want the audience to do?
This is a subtle but important element. You don’t want to come across as an advertisement but you do want to make sure your brand is a focal point of the story. A clear CTA helps guide the story’s direction and frames the takeaway.
🕧TIMING — Pitch when the market (and newsroom) is leaning in.
A great pitch at the wrong time is a missed opportunity. Pay attention to holidays and deadlines. There is a prime hour and day to pitch reporters, which is a tactic MACIAS PR frequently utilizes. The right pitch at the right moment can turn into instant coverage.
Most publicists pitch reporters with a long story. But journalists don’t want long stories — they want clarity, relevance, evidence, and timing.
When these elements line up, your pitch stops being an ask, and becomes the story reporters are looking for.
Do you need help building a newsroom-ready story for your brand?
MACIAS PR was founded in 2009 by Mark Macias – an Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. City & State Magazine named Macias one of the top 50 best PR pros in New York in 2022 and 2024. Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the 2017-2020 Strategic PR Firm of the Year, and PR Firm of the Year.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
Every few years, a story resurfaces that reminds us of a simple truth: we’re all one careless moment away from a headline we never wanted. Whether it’s a politician losing his temper, a CEO forgetting he’s still mic’d, or a viral clip that catches someone off-guard, the same lesson keeps coming back around.
I learned this long before social media amplified every misstep. In 2014, a U.S. Congressman made national news after threatening to throw a reporter over a balcony inside the Capitol. What many people don’t know: I worked with this Congressman during his initial campaign for election.
But this story isn’t about politics. It’s about something nearly everyone faces today — the reality that cameras, microphones, and digital eyes are always on, and how quickly an unguarded comment can reshape your brand.
Below are the most common mistakes I’ve seen leaders make, from Congress to corporate boardrooms — and how you can avoid repeating them.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
The Big Picture: Fewer Reporters, Tighter Newsrooms
Comcast announced last year it would spin off MSNBC and CNBC into a new publicly traded company that goes into effect November 15th. And earlier this year, Skydance Media purchased the parent company of CBS for $8 billion, consolidating legacy brands like CBS News, The CBS Morning Show and their digital platforms.
For entrepreneurs and business owners trying to get media coverage, this matters: fewer resources, new leadership, new content priorities = new hoops to jump through.
With NBC and Paramount Skydance already beginning large-scale layoffs (2,000 jobs announced in October) and shifting editorial focus, your story better be aligned with their new watch-list of “timely, high-impact coverage” rather than the old “feature angle” playbook.
This might seem like inside-baseball corporate move, but the effects are real — and they’re hitting the media world hard.
Layoffs across NBC, CBS, CNN, CNBC, and MSNBC have reduced newsroom staff. Producers are juggling multiple stories. Reporters are covering different industries at once. And that means one thing for entrepreneurs in search of coverage:
It’s getting harder — not easier — to get your story told.
Why it Matters for Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
Every founder wants their story told — whether it’s a product launch, funding round, or thought-leadership feature. But when networks have fewer people and smaller budgets, they simply can’t cover as many stories.
That’s not just theory — it’s what we’ve seen firsthand at MACIAS PR this year, and from my time inside the media. Reporters we’ve known for years have told us they’re overloaded, covering double the work with half the help. Some have even reached out to me after losing their jobs during restructuring.
This environment makes it essential for business owners to think differently about how they approach the media.
What’s Changing in the Media Landscape
Here’s what you need to know about the newsroom shift happening right now:
Fewer people to pitch. The teams behind shows are getting reshuffled, especially at CBS where entire newscasts are getting cut. Staffing is leaner than ever.
Shorter deadlines. News producers are prioritizing quick-turn, hard news stories that are easy to produce.
Less room for features. Soft or human-interest stories — especially those without a timely hook — are being cut first.
More competition. With fewer open slots, only the sharpest, most relevant pitches get airtime.
