Five Factors to Determine if Your Pitch is Nonsense or Newsworthy

If you’re looking to get newspaper, radio and TV publicity at a cost of nothing more than a few minutes of your time then follow my five factors for success and incorporate them into your next pitch.

News comes in all forms, from the 24-hour format of CNN to the “Give us ten minutes and we’ll give you the world,” format made popular by New York based all-news station1010 WINS. Be it long and drawn out or quick and concise news can be defined as “Information about current or recent events and happenings, as reported by the news media”.

But what makes news newsworthy and not just nonsense?

I’ve identified five factors, detailed below, that are often taken into consideration by an editor or producer when deciding whether to run with a particular story or bring a segment to life. Determining whether a pitch meets at least three of these criteria is part of separating news from nonsense and are often the standards by which your pitch is judged.

1. Timing

The word news means exactly that - things which are new. Be sure to pitch time-sensitive news with ample time before the event or your chances of coverage will be greatly diminished.

If something is being covered heavily in the news, for example the rise of Autism in children or the Presidential election, then you can greatly increase your chances of being covered if you can identify an angle that is in line with what’s already being discussed.

2. Significance

How many people will the information you want to convey touch?

Having a niche is a nice way to grow rich and dominate a market; but for the purposes of publicity, the more people who can benefit from what you have to say, the better.

You might be able to work with a narrow topic for a news paper or radio show, especially one that has a specific demographic that will benefit from your information, however you’ll need to create a case for broad appeal when it comes to pitching television producers because their reach is so wide.

3. Proximity

Proximity doesn’t have to mean geographical distance but it could. If you are pitching your local television or radio station or newspaper about your business it helps that your story idea has a “local flavor,” because the story will mean more to the viewers, listeners or readers to know that one of their own has something relevant to share with the community.

In the national media proximity relates more to demographics and groups of people. Will your story idea relate to working moms, business owners, baby boomers? Get clear on who and how you can appeal to the target audience that the show or newspaper you’re pitching reaches.

4. Prominence

Celebrities often get media coverage just because they are famous not always because they’re newsworthy. In fact more often than not I would categorize celebrity stories as nonsense, for example if you get into a finder bender on the freeway, it won’t make the news but if the person you happen to bump into is Elton John, it’s big news - even if no one was hurt.

Think of ways you can attach your message, product or service to a celebrity and it’ll increase your chances of being highlighted as newsworthy.

5. Human Interest

Human interest stories tend to be the exception to the rule in news, they don’t loose their timeliness as quickly and they may not affect a large number of people yet can still be seen as significant because they attempt to connect by tapping into human emotions.

Television news, talk shows, radio stations and even newspapers look for ways to work in human interest stories because they endear the audience and keep them coming back for more.

When you’re pitching a story and you can incorporate a human element - do it. Producers will be more likely to fit your story into their show and reporters will be more inclined to write about a person over a product anytime.