When the Pitch Becomes the Story

A work associate of mine, Nicholas Scibetta and I wrote the following piece for a monthly column on our corporate intranet. The column is called ".NEXT, the Bold New World of Media."

This month's column discusses an interesting change taking place today in PR firms and the media (including the blogosphere):

When the Pitch Becomes the Story

We’ve seen several examples over the past year of public relations professionals getting dinged by bloggers. Respected companies like American Express, Mazda and Dr. Pepper all received negative criticism when PR pros tried to unsuccessfully work with them. In general, the PR pros did two things wrong: They didn't fully disclose their clients' identity and they assumed incorrectly that bloggers lived by the same journalistic "code" as their mainstream media counterparts.

This unwritten code states that journalists will accept "off the record" comments as just that – off the record. The code also includes that reporters won't write about the "pitch," the actual act of marketing and presenting a story to a reporter.

Bloggers have proven that many of them don't adhere to this same code (and honestly, do they have to?). They often publish off the record statements in their posts and discuss the actual story pitch process. But traditional journalists still adhere to the code on their personal blogs, right? Wrong.

We know examples of journalists who have honored a media embargo with their traditional print publication, but posted the same story on their blog hours before the embargo was lifted. We know examples of reporters writing a balanced story for their employers' publications, but then writing different versions of the same story on their personal blog. This "inside baseball" is something we need to consider in public relations.

Journalist blogs have certainly created more transparency in the newsroom. Take Brian William's blog, "The Daily Nightly." Here, Brian writes daily about the goings on at NBC News, even providing us insight on how the day’s leading stories are selected. On his blog, Brian provides a glimpse of the editorial process to put The Nightly News together, including behind-the-scenes conversations between producers as to why and why not certain stories made it to air or didn't. Many newspaper outlets are encouraging their editors to write more about the why they cover what they do and how they go about doing it.

A recent story in The New York Times discusses how papers in the McClatchy Group, which owns the Sacramento Bee, The Star-Tribune(MN), and The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., are "undertaking 'accuracy audits' in which they survey people who appeared in articles to see if they were represented properly." Going even a step further, "some papers have invited citizens to sit in on their Page 1 meetings." CBS News' recently launched website features an ombudsman charged with, among other tasks, answering viewer questions about the workings of the news division.

This trend of "full disclosure" can be closely associated with the media's desire for the appearance of transparency and attempt to remain "sticky" with their current viewers/readers, while also attracting new ones. Living through the recent scandals involving the accuracy of quotes and existence of actual inside expert sources has put media somewhat on the defensive. This trend is certainly exciting. It's fun to have a view into the editorial process. But as public relations professionals, it should give us pause. It changes the rules. This isn't necessarily a bad thing – but it’s something we need to be ready for.

We need to ensure that our "pitch" can be distributed. We need to ensure that any additional background information that we give to a reporter can be published – either in the traditional publication or on their personal blog. And we might even want to consider the reporter's personal opinions and stance when we pitch them. While most journalists will work to deliver a balanced piece to their editor (as they are obligated to do), their personal blog, which might have a sizeable audience of its own, may share a different story (again, that's the reporter's discretion). Do the research, understanding the reporter's leanings can help you land a pitch and quite possibly prevent you from putting your client in a potentially adverse situation.

So the takeaway for today? Always pretend that you’re pitching Don Imus – someone famous for broadcasting the PR "pitch" as much as the story itself.

-aB