Journalists who are undoubtedly busy people receive hundreds to thousands of emails per day, depending on their job title, the topics they cover, and their seniority level, among others. Time is essential for them and it takes a special story to get their attention. So how do we effectively engage with Filipino journalists in 2023?

To know more about how to work with the Philippine media, Halee Andrea Alcaraz, an Executive for Telum Media's Media Team in the Philippines, spoke with Aileen Rae Perez, Head of Social for the public affairs section of GMA News and Public Affairs, Ace June Rell S. Perez, Digital Services and Content Head of SunStar Philippines Online's Davao Bureau, and Rodneil Quiteles, the Managing Editor of GadgetMatch, during a live webinar on 20^th January 2023.

The panel talked about where journalists get their news, good journo-PR relationship management, and best practices in story pitching.

Journalists' usual news sources
There's now a lot of ways for media outlets to source their stories, according to SunStar Davao's Ace. Aside from press conferences, they have scheduled visits to different government offices, non-government offices, and other organisations. "Since we are now on social media, we also get a lot of stories from our followers online. Sometimes our followers give us pitches or story leads where we can get the story... Then of course, we receive a lot of emails, story pitches from PR agencies, PR friends in the industry," Ace said.

For Aileen's team at GMA News and Public Affairs, they monitor and publish the most relevant and engaging pieces of information on social media to also get the opinions of their followers.

Topics that make journos rely on PRs for information
GadgetMatch's Rodneil said they talk to PRs for news about consumer tech, streaming, entertainment, gaming, especially those that are breaking news, as well as stories on how technology affects life. "A big chunk of what we publish actually come from press materials from these brands," he shared.

According to Ace, SunStar Davao taps PRs depending on what stories are trending. An example is the recent story on SIM registration in the Philippines, which prompted the publication to reach out to concerned PRs from telecommunications companies like Smart and Globe. 

Aileen also noted that they rely on PRs for lifestyle stories. However, sometimes, journalists do not rely on PRs because newsroom editors want their reporters to get the stories themselves, especially when the topics are about general news. "But of course, we also acknowledge that we cannot do it alone as journalists, so we also need help from our PR friends," SunStar Davao's Ace said.

News-gathering process when journos get PR emails
The panel emphasised that PR people should know the right people to contact because it's not always the general editorial email that's behind the publication of various topics. For Aileen and Ace, their teams wait for a go signal to report on a story from PRs then assign a reporter to do it. At times, there are publications that could publish a press material with only minimal edits if the press release is well-written.

How journos initiate a working relationship with PRs
When building their network, Rodneil usually goes directly to the brand, looks at the website, and finds out who they can work with by directly sending them messages.

A prior work relationship with journalists are also important, Rodneil said, explaining that PRs are likely to know how to deal with journos because they know the reporters and the media outlet's goals, target audiences, and the kind of stories that they publish.

What happens when a story pitch doesn't get published?
For Ace, he just waits for another email from a PR professional that contains a good story that can be published, noting that he knows good PR officers understand that not all pitches can be picked up.

When this happens, Aileen emphasised that PRs have to know who they're sending their letters to, and they should clearly explain what type of exposure they want, be it TV, radio, or online exposure.

Best practices in journo-PR relationship management
For Rodneil, it's important to have a quick catchup with a journalist to establish and maintain a working relationship and know how a reporter wants to be communicated with.

According to Aileen, "Authenticity is very important." Don't just approach journalists when you need something from them. She added that PRs must be consistent when dealing with journalists so that reporters will remember them when they want to be published.

Ace agreed with both Rodneil and Aileen, saying it's essential to establish a constant connection with the media even without wanting anything in return. 

Dos in story pitching:

• Send press materials in .docx / Word format for journalists to be more efficient as they would only need to copy and paste the text
• Avoid saying 'For Immediate Release' in the subject line of emails because it gives journalists a notion that PRs are giving them commands to publish a story
• Send quality stories because "story is king"
• Know what exactly you're sending and provide context
• Go straight to the point
• If sending to a TV network, make sure that you have good visuals
• Send a one-page press material when it's unnecessary to have more than one because "less is more"
• Make the write-up as engaging as possible and put some spice in your PR pieces

Don'ts in story pitching:

• If pitching for a network, don't focus on the product especially if it needs to promote a certain brand as journalists are not allowed to sell
• Don't send PR materials on events that are only about contract signing because these can just be published on social media and not necessarily for full-length articles and TV programmes
• For photo attachments, don't put them in the document but upload in a separate email for journalists to download the files easier and faster
• Don't require journalists to cover your event, but request
• Don't be rude and respect people's time