How to pitch a story to a journalist.
Like the Dragons, pitching is easier when you take the time to create something they might want and…
Component 06 · Narrative
TRUTH Pitches
Topical. Relevant. Unusual. Tension. Human.
A five-element test applied to every story before it reaches a journalist. If any element is weak, the pitch is reworked before outreach begins.
TRUTH is a mnemonic for checking you have all five elements you need to convey in a pitch. The mnemonic is pinched from Paul Blanchard’s book “Fast PR”, and in my view it is the best of its kind.
You do not have to spell all of these out in the pitch itself — you will not have the time — but give enough for the journalist to see you have thought about it. In other words, the pitch has to summarise: here is how real people, who you write for or about, will be impacted by something, and a new take on what this means.
If you cannot cover each of these five things in a pitch, try again.
TRUTH in detail
- Topical
- Most journalists feed on news and live in the moment. If the story is not topical they will probably ignore it. Answers: why now?
- Relevant
- Consider their audience and area of specialism, and make sure the story relates to them. Look at what they have written before and infer interest. Answers: why me?
- Unusual
- Weird or quirky beats boring hands down. A rebuttal, a pivot, a “first ever”. Answers: what’s new?
- Tension
- With no conflict there is no story. When there is change there is almost always a winner and a loser. Answers: what’s changing?
- Human
- Relate the story to actual people using real-world examples. Human impact is probably the biggest single determinant of how newsworthy a story is. Answers: who is impacted?
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