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How not to pitch your story to the newsroom
Odoobo C. Bichachi
What you need to know:
- Hiding behind anonymity to send multiple scattergun emails to everyone in the media may not yield a story. It will likely end up in the deleted folder or dustbin and with it, perhaps an otherwise important story
Last week, between September 29 and October 5, Daily Monitor newsroom email (and I believe that of other major news media, going by the email addresses in copy) was inundated by several emails from alleged “whistleblowers” calling for an investigation into a private business institution, with all sorts of outlandish allegations – printable and unprintable!
In military-speak, one would say this was the equivalent of raining missiles of information, disinformation, misinformation, and mal-information in the hope that one or two will hit the target and give rise to a big story in print or on air (broadcast).
Those in the newsroom a year or two ago will recall a similar blitzkrieg from purported residents of Golomolo, Buikwe screaming about alleged theft of land, sand, water, air, etc by a cabinet minister.
Many editors receiving such a bombardment of information or misinformation will almost automatically pass over it or send it into the junk folder – or dustbin – because it is difficult to make head or tail of it – motive, accuracy, freneticism, etc.
Even the Artificial Intelligence (AI) embedded in the email systems often classifies such multiple same subject emails with “suspicious” attachments as “spam” and therefore sends it into the spam folder where it quietly disappears.
A blitzkrieg is, therefore, one of the best examples of how not to pitch a story to the media – assuming there is a story anyway. As Lisa Preston writes in her essay, “How NOT to pitch to journalists (and top tips for getting your news noticed)”, journalists and especially editors are very busy people receiving tens of hundreds of emails, telephone calls, documents, etc every day.
“If your news isn’t pitch perfect then no matter how dazzling your story, it may be dumped before it has had a chance to shine,” she writes. Yes, there is no smoke without fire and an avalanche of emails definitely points to something unusual. Some editors may give it the benefit of doubt and check out the “information”. But in this world of technological advancement, not everything that looks like smoke is indeed coming from a fire. It could be artificially engineered smoke or fire. In short, it could be fake, malicious, spurious, etc!
Fake news is one of the hazards of our time and newsrooms are always anxious not to fall for it, especially if it looks overly pushed. If you have a genuine tip to share, then calmly walk into the newsroom and make your pitch to a reporter or editor, ready with your documents to back up your story and ready with answers to any questions they will ask you before taking up the story.
Remember, one of the important tenets of the journalism code of ethics is protection of sources. So do not worry; your identity will be protected. But hiding behind anonymity to send multiple scattergun emails to everyone in the media may not yield a story. It will likely end up in the deleted folder or dustbin and with it, perhaps an otherwise important story.
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READERS HAVE YOUR SAY
Which Butime?
In the article “The fall and fall of FDC” (page 4 of Sunday Monitor, October 8), it is mentioned that Col. (Rtd) Tom Butime was once a National Vice Chairman of FDC. On page 5, it is further stated that he later became the National Chairman of the same party. I wish to point out that Tom Butime was not a party executive of FDC, but rather, it was the late John Butime.
Eng. George Mabweijano, Kampala
Public Editor: Thank you for this feedback. A correction was published in the Daily Monitor of October 11. We regret the error.
Wrong info about book
I am writing this e-mail with regard to an article that was published on 3rd October, 2023 in the Rainbow Magazine (kindly refer to the image attached). The book advertised, The Lost Son has the wrong information as far as the illustrator name, page number and price. This is misleading to the public. Are you able to run a corrected version?
Ethel, Kampala
Public Editor: Thank you for this feedback which has been wholly transmitted to the concerned editors. Yes, a correction shall be published.
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