What TV Reporters Actually Look For in a Press Release (From Someone Who Deleted Hundreds)

I spent more than nine years in TV newsrooms, and I want to tell you a number that should bother every business owner who's ever paid for a press release: I deleted most of them without reading past the subject line. Not because I'm cruel — because I had ninety seconds between segments and two hundred emails in the queue.

Now that I run Local Lift - Media & Marketing, I write pitches from the other side of the desk. Here's what actually survived my delete key, and what still works today.

1. The subject line is the story

Reporters don't open emails to find out if they're interested. The subject line has to do the whole job. 'Local bakery announces new ownership' is a deletion. 'Dacula bakery gives away 500 loaves to furloughed workers' is an assignment editor's meeting topic. One describes an event. The other describes a story.

If your subject line could apply to any business in any town, it's not a story yet.

2. There's a person, not a company

Viewers don't connect with businesses. They connect with people. Every pitch I ever acted on had a human being at the center — the nurse who opened her own clinic, the veteran fixing lawnmowers out of his garage. If your release is about your company being 'thrilled to announce' something, rewrite it around a person whose life changes because of it.

3. It answers 'why today?'

News is perishable. The question every reporter silently asks is: why does this have to run now? A ribbon cutting, a milestone, a tie to something already in the news — give it urgency or it waits forever. 'Business exists and would like coverage' is not urgency.

4. The visuals are obvious

TV is a pictures business. If I couldn't picture the story in one sentence — what we'd shoot, where, with whom — it died. Tell the reporter what the camera sees. 'Kids will be building the playground at 10 a.m.' is better than two paragraphs about community impact.

5. You made it easy

The pitches that won had everything attached or linked: names spelled, times, addresses, a phone number someone actually answers, photos that could air. Every extra email a reporter has to send you is a chance for the story to die. Make saying yes the path of least resistance.

The bottom line

Reporters aren't gatekeepers trying to keep you out — they're overwhelmed people looking for one good story they can defend in a meeting. Hand them that story on a plate and you'll be amazed how often they bite.

This is exactly what I do for clients at Local Lift. If you want your business covered instead of deleted, book a free strategy call and let's find your story.