As a science journalist, it’s my privilege to interview remarkable researchers who are trying hard to solve the world’s problems. It’s my job to understand the intricacies of their work and explain its importance and its context to my audience.
Every day, I receive an abundance of unsolicited emails from universities and other large organisations, asking me to write stories about new research they’d like to promote. While I try to read all of them, I am only able to respond to a select few, and even fewer still will actually result in a story.
How can researchers give their pitches the best chance of rising above the noise in a journalist’s inbox? Here are my top four techniques to break through.
Don’t send blanket emails
Amid a sea of automated mail-outs, a personal touch can pay dividends.
A junior researcher in the United States recently emailed me about his work, for example, explaining that it was the first time he’d published a research paper and he was keen to get the word out.
It was clear that this researcher had taken the time to understand the kind of research I usually cover, and his pitch outlined how his paper builds on the work I’ve previously written about.
After a few emails back and forth, I wrote to the editor of a particular publication and successfully pitched the story.
With this in mind, a scientist is better off choosing a few journalists and writing to them individually about their work, rather than sending out a blanket email. Press officers should also consider doing the same, while encouraging researchers at their institution to reach out to their favourite science communicators.
You don’t need to have a pitch to get in touch
A university’s press officer once wrote to me to say that if I ever needed a source for a story on a given topic, she’d happily try and find an expert at her institution for me to interview. This was a helpful offer and I’ve taken her up on it a few times, especially when a deadline is tight.
For researchers looking to increase their public profile, this may be a good strategy. If you’re an expert in particular field, contact a journalist who reports on that beat and offer to be a contact for future stories.
If you can develop a good working relationship with a journalist over time, you can send specific pitches to them later. That reporter will definitely reply to your emails. In other words, it can be a long game rather than a quick quid pro quo.
An image is worth 1000 words
If you can, attach images to emails when you’re contacting a journalist. It helps to grab their attention, but it also makes their life easier when they’re talking to their editors.
One of the first questions that an editor asks when I’m pitching them a story is about the artwork that might accompany the piece. They’re usually keen to see image and video ideas early on so they can start thinking about print layouts and social-media strategies. If you can help a journalist with high-quality images, then it’s an even bigger help and makes it more likely that their editors will say yes to the pitch. Don’t forget to include an appropriate image credit and caption so the publication can use the photo legally.
Infographic ideas are also helpful – if you have data that could illustrate the science you’re trying to promote, then send that along, with a brief explanation of how you think it could be used to visualise the research or the importance of the research. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It could just be data to produce a bar chart, but anything that helps to picture the science is going to help a pitch get past an editor.
Don’t bury the lede
That’s journalist jargon for “you took too long to get to the point” and while it’s mainly used between editors and writers, it applies to pitches too. It can be tempting to explain a research paper in the order of its contents – i.e., introduction, methodology and results, followed by conclusions. But I recommend working backwards. Start with the conclusions and explain why the paper is of interest, then mention some of the results to back it up before briefly discussing the background. Using this structure will increase the likelihood that a journalist stays engaged with your pitch.
Article by Benj Plackett
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