Why Advice From Journos Often Sucks

This article is an excerpt from week 34 of The Digital PR Newsletter, each week I share a tip that either makes your job easier, or increases your chances of landing coverage.

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Earlier in my career, I placed great importance on nearly everything a journalist would say to people who work in PR. After all, they are the ones that write the stories.

However as I became more experienced, I came to learn that for the most part, it’s best to take what journalists say with a pinch of salt (and sometimes it’s best to ignore them completely).

They have different thoughts and opinions on what makes a good story, the best way to format a press release, and even the pleasantries you should use at the beginning of your emails.

This tweet seems like a parody, but it is in fact very real.

For every tip or advice from a journalist, another journalist will pop up and be like

“Oh actually I prefer the exact opposite of this”

Take this example that was shared on Twitter from last year on exclamation marks.

Some journalists agreed, but some disagreed too, going as far as recommending MORE exclamation marks!!!

Sometimes it feels like you just can't win.

This tweet from 2021 by a journalist at The Times clearly wasn’t the biggest fan of “Most Instagrammable” type stories (which is fair enough).

But he went on to say he couldn’t think of a signal outlet that would take them.

Yet at around the time the BBC, Mail Online, Metro, and even his own publication The Times were writing stories like these.

I’m not bashing journalists, I think the vast majority of them are talented individuals, that work in challenging conditions and with constant pressure. It’s certainly not a job that I would want to do.

But the difference is, journalists often think on a micro level. They are thinking about themselves, and their preference as an individual, for their beat, and for their publication.

Whereas people that work in PR focus on what works to land media placements and coverage for clients.

That’s literally our jobs, and to do that, we take a broader view of the media landscape spanning different beats and outlets.

So when a journalist shares feedback or a tip, keep in mind that it's most likely a personal preference and it may not apply to all journalists and publications.