The Media Insider in a nutshell
Each episode host, Helen Croydon, an author, former jounalist and publicist, interviews a commissioning editor, journalist or producer at a high profile media outlet on what, why, who and when they commission a story. With a few of their best anecdotes from the newsroom too. Essential listening for professional PRs, freelance journalists and anyone who wants to be featured in the press.
If you’ve ever wondered how the news is made and where journalists find interviewees, this is a fascinating listen.
A note from your show host
After 15 years as a journalist, working in TV news and print publications, I’ve done a lot of pitching to the media and I’ve received a lot of pitches from keen PRs and business owners.
As the author of three books I’ve done a lot of hassling to get myself on TV and radio.
So what I know is pitching to the media is hard. I know more than most about the commissioning conveyor belt but it’s still almost impossible to gauge what editors, producers and journalists want.
That’s why I created this podcast so I can hear, fresh from the editors themselves how, what, when and whom they commission.
There are no generic rules to pitching. Very few publications run a straight forward interviews for example. Yet this is the most common story format that PRs suggest. Only some publications run opinion pieces from non-journalists. How can you ever know how to pitch?
I hope this podcast will help PRs, thought-leaders and other journalists better understand the media. And spare those poor editors’ inboxes of irrelevant and unsuitable pitches!
If you’re a commissioning editor, producer or a journalist with a regular slot somewhere, I’d love to have you on.
If you’re a PR, find out about my professional courses with Nine Media for everything on pitching to the media.
If you fancy yourself as a thought-leader and want to raise your personal profile, check out my services.