According to industry surveys, journalists receive anywhere between 50 and 200 pitches every week, with some reporters receiving significantly more during busy news cycles. Yet despite the volume of outreach, nearly half of journalists say most pitches they receive are irrelevant to their coverage areas.
This presents a challenge for businesses, founders and communications professionals alike.
Many organisations assume media coverage is difficult because journalists are too busy.
The reality is often much simpler.
Most pitches are ignored because they are not relevant.
After more than a decade working across public relations and corporate communications, I have seen this repeatedly. Companies invest time crafting announcements, refining messaging and developing press releases, only to wonder why journalists never respond.
The instinctive reaction is often frustration.
The more useful response is reflection.
Because from a journalist’s perspective, ignoring a pitch is usually not personal.
It is practical.
To understand why, it helps to understand how journalists operate.
Their primary responsibility is not to help organisations gain publicity.
Their responsibility is to serve their audience.
Every story competes for limited editorial space, limited time and limited attention. Reporters constantly assess whether a topic is relevant, timely and valuable to the readers, listeners or viewers they serve.
This means a well-written pitch can still fail if the story itself is not meaningful to the publication’s audience.
One of the most common mistakes organisations make is pitching the wrong journalist.
A technology reporter receives a property announcement.
A business editor receives a lifestyle story.
An automotive journalist receives a fintech product launch.
Even if the announcement is genuinely newsworthy, it immediately becomes irrelevant when sent to the wrong person.
Personalisation matters, but relevance matters more.
Another common mistake is confusing company news with public interest.
A company opening a new office may feel important internally.
A journalist may see it differently.
The question reporters often ask themselves is straightforward:
“Why should my audience care?”
If a story does not answer that question quickly, it becomes difficult to justify coverage.
This is where many organisations struggle.
They focus on what they want to say rather than what audiences want to know.
A press release announcing a new service may generate limited interest.
A story explaining how that service addresses a major market challenge could attract attention.
The difference lies in the narrative.
Journalists are not looking for advertisements disguised as stories.
They are looking for stories.
This distinction becomes even more important in today’s media environment.
Newsrooms are operating with fewer resources than before. Reporters are expected to produce content across multiple formats, monitor breaking developments and compete within increasingly crowded information ecosystems.
As a result, journalists have become more selective.
A pitch that requires significant effort to understand is often overlooked.
A pitch that immediately highlights a relevant trend, issue or opportunity stands a better chance of success.
Length is another factor.
Many pitches attempt to explain everything.
Company history.
Founder biography.
Product specifications.
Corporate milestones.
Several paragraphs later, the actual news finally appears.
By then, attention may already be lost.
The strongest pitches are often surprisingly simple.
They communicate the story clearly.
They explain why it matters.
They provide supporting information.
Then they stop.
Journalists appreciate clarity.
They also appreciate honesty.
One trend that has become increasingly common is the overuse of promotional language.
Words such as “revolutionary”, “groundbreaking” and “industry-leading” appear regularly in media pitches.
The problem is that these claims are often subjective.
Journalists prefer evidence.
Rather than claiming a company is innovative, show how it is solving a problem.
Rather than declaring market leadership, provide data that supports the claim.
Facts tend to outperform adjectives.
Relationships also play a role, but perhaps not in the way many people assume.
Strong media relationships can help ensure a pitch gets opened.
They cannot guarantee a story gets published.
Even the closest journalist contact cannot create newsworthiness where none exists.
Good journalists protect their credibility carefully.
Ultimately, they are accountable to their audiences, not the organisations pitching them.
This is why the most successful media engagement strategies focus less on pitching and more on understanding.
Understanding the journalist.
Understanding the publication.
Understanding the audience.
And most importantly, understanding what makes a story genuinely worth telling.
The best pitches rarely feel like pitches.
They feel like useful information.
They help journalists identify trends, explain developments or uncover perspectives that matter to their audiences.
When organisations consistently provide that value, media relationships become stronger and coverage opportunities become more frequent.
Not because journalists owe them attention.
But because they have become trusted sources of insight.
In an age where inboxes are increasingly crowded and attention is increasingly scarce, relevance remains the most valuable currency in media relations.
Journalists do not ignore pitches because they dislike public relations.
They ignore pitches because most of them fail to answer a simple question:
“Why should my audience care?”
Industry research continues to show that nearly half of journalists consider the majority of pitches they receive to be irrelevant. The organisations that consistently earn media attention are often not those sending the highest volume of outreach, but those investing the time to understand what truly makes a story newsworthy in the first place.
