PCC Luncheon: Broadcasters with a National Perspective
12/10/2009
By Libby vanBuskirk
Successfully pitching a television network can be a difficult task. Getting a regional story covered by national broadcast outlets can be even harder. Three broadcasters met at the Publicity Club of Chicago luncheon Dec. 9 to discuss these very issues.
Moderator and freelance producer Mary Hynes led panelists Suzanne Caraher, Jeff Flock and Ron Schofield in a discussion to get their views on how to successfully pitch national broadcast outlets.
Caraher serves as the assignment editor for ABC Television News. She filters stories from 13 Midwest states in order to provide news for Good Morning America, ABC’s World News and Nightline, as well as other shows on ABC Television Network. Flock was previously the Chicago bureau chief for CNN/Cable News Network and now serves as a reporter for FOX Business Network. Schofield, meanwhile, recently took on the role of central region video producer for the Associated Press Broadcast, where he produces video from 14 states.
One major point all three agreed on was that making a pitch related to current news stories was vital.
Schofield advised, "Keep up with what the news outlets are doing and try to stay at least current with the news." That will enable PR professionals to be prepared to pitch clients and experts who relate to the current news stories, making it more likely to catch an outlet's interest.
Flock agreed. "I would say the main thing you could do to make your story plug in is, first of all, have a story that works. And by that I mean if you watch our network... can you see how it would fit in?" Flock can always tell, he said, when PR professionals have never watched his work or FOX Business Network.
With broadcast, it's also important to keep timeliness in mind. News stories turn around very quickly and waiting even a day can mean a missed opportunity.
"If you have any advance information... and you have somebody that can speak to the subject, that is great," said Caraher. There are too many times, she noted, the newsroom receives press releases about people and events no longer relevant and newsworthy.
Schofield agreed. "I need you to give me something that's interesting and timely or it's going to hurt your credibility with me and then at some point your stuff just starts to get filtered out."
It's also important that when a regional story is being pitched, the PR professional makes it clear why the story would be of national interest.
"A Chicago story still has to be interesting for people not in Chicago,” said Schofield. When he gets a story that he needs to consider for national coverage, he thinks about his mother, who lives in Georgia. “I kind of ask myself, would she find that interesting? And if she does, to me, then a story resonates outside of Chicago.”
Caraher and Flock also recommended linking regional stories to current national trends.
"People that I work for like stories that have elements from around the country,” said Caraher. “They want to know that housing starts are better in California or Ohio or Maryland…If you have something like that on the day housing starts are coming out or unemployment figures, or something like that, you can just let us know."
In Flock's work for FOX Business Network, he often takes local stories that may seem fairly small and use them as a jumping-off point.
"There's a local story that's kind of a throwaway story that means nothing. But I can use that as a staging ground for this national piece," he explained. If PR professionals can spell out connections like that in their pitches, he is far more likely to take notice.
Content published in newspapers can also help PR professionals in getting broadcast exposure. Caraher pointed out that many reporters use LexisNexis and Google News to find sources for broadcast pieces.
"The first name that shows up is generally the person who gets the phone call," she said of both search engines. She also said that many reporters use the Associated Press as their first source for news. "The AP and newspapers are equally as important to try to get your person on television."
As for how to pitch them, all three agreed that e-mail is best. Flock also suggested that press releases are probably not the way to go.
"I would make a supposition that the day of the press release has passed," he said. He reads almost all his e-mails on his BlackBerry and he recommends a brief pitch to start.
"It pops up on the BlackBerry and it's a compelling line or two. Then it begins to get traction," he explained of a good pitch. "Then we can take the next step and go down the road and get everything else that might have been in the press release."
Caraher does read every press release sent her way, but she says many of them are outdated or not relevant. However, when a pitch is something she can use, she said, "It's really important to be able to forward it on, because we do a lot of things here in Chicago that go into stories from around the country."
Schofield also thinks short pitches are best. "I come from an environment if you can't pitch a story in about four or five lines - if it's not interesting in that time - it's probably not going to go." But he also noted the importance of establishing a relationship with PR professionals and recommended that publicists connect with him before they even send him a pitch.
"A lot of this for me has got to be about relationships," he said. Just asking for advice as to whether a story is something the Associated Press would be interested in covering, is another way to establish that relationship. "We have to have some professional credibility with each other."
Contact Information
ABC Television News
190 N State St, Fl 3
Chicago, IL 60601-3302
(312)899-4015
Suzanne Caraher, assignment editor
abctvchicago@abc.com
FOX Business Network
55 W Wacker, Ste 500
Chicago, IL 60601
(312)494-0428
Jeff Flock, reporter
jeff.flock@foxbusiness.com
Associated Press Broadcast
10 S. Wacker Dr., Ste 2500
Chicago, IL 60606
(312)781-0500
Ron Schofield, central region video producer
rschofield@ap.org