If you told me in February that this pandemic was coming and how much it would affect daily life, people would not have believ you.
When the pandemic overwhelm all of our attention spans, it felt like there were no other conversations going on. Yep. Bad pitching levels rose to an all-time high as journalists constantly took to Twitter to air their grievances. As public relations practitioners, we do our part to share the responsibility of crisis communications, but that effort becomes more challenging when the ground keeps breaking beneath our collective feet.
As tough as it has been, it has also been an invaluable learning experience that will continue to provide lessons — and we won’t even realize it until we have a macro picture of what has transpir in 2020. Tips for engaging and working with the m ia.
Find new angles and perspectives
It goes without saying that before you release any story to belarus phone number library a news outlet, determine the subject matter and scope of the story, and most importantly, ask yourself, what will your readers get out of it?
One of the biggest pet peeves for journalists and itors is receiving a pitch idea that has no relevance to what they are writing about or to their respective audiences. A pandemic is no exception. You ne to adapt to their areas of focus, which requires reading and creating new perspectives to engage them in the discussion.
As I mention before
COVID-19 articles are everywhere, most of which are “how to acustomer experience valuebas is do X during a pandemic.” It can seem challenging to present a different perspective at times, but we’ve found that journalists are not only open to it — they want something new. That is, as long as it’s an angle that other journalists haven’t cover yet.
Fresh angles get journalists’ attention, pandemic or not. It may mean working harder to find the right story, but when you do that, you’re more likely to make a connection.
Leave them alone when you can help
We’re all in new territory. You can’t always tell how cell p data someone feels, and tone is notoriously hard to convey over text or email. Many news outlets are short-staff ; itors and reporters were already facing challenges before the pandemic. So be patient, be responsive, be compassionate — having thick skin won’t hurt.
Also, know when to make a connection. The best gift a journalist can get is to be alone.
