Those outside the media world don't tend to question how editorial content is chosen. They may have a vague understanding of how breaking news works but much of what we encounter online isn't the drop everything news, it's the daily stuff, the results of studies, the new products announced, the tidbits of news.
Press releases, emails, phone calls, tweets, texts shooting back and forth between journalists and PR firms and companies-it's all part of what I like to call the pitch economy. Like any economy it runs on supply and demand and the vagaries of the marketplace. It also requires participation from parties on both ends to function correctly and like any economy it's heavily impacted by changes in technology.
I currently work on both sides of the pitch economy and I'm not alone, I know many people who made the move from journalism to PR/marketing while still keeping a writing side gig. Having a view from both sides of the equation makes me a little gentler with those who pitch me and a little more mindful of the constraints facing those I pitch.
What is often forgotten about the pitch economy is how much time it takes to nurture the relationships involved. To the uninitiated it can seem like a closed circuit. They pitch one thing, nothing happens, they just assume it will never happen.
I haven't always been the biggest advocate of PR firms, mostly because any PR I've done has been as a staff member of a company. At times I've viewed a separate PR firm as an unnecessary middle man but increasingly I see that umbrella organizations are a necessary part of the pitch economy partly because they form those relationships that can make an overburdened journalist with a flooded inbox take a second look.
In a recent issue of Harvard Magazine, I read about Scholar Strategy Network, a group with an aim of connecting scholars and their research to policymakers, citizens associations, and the media. You might wonder why that is necessary. Doesn't research just naturally make its way out into the world? There are thousands more outlets to publish in and yet it's harder and harder to be heard above the din.
Part of playing to the modern pitch economy is about packaging your work in a way that it can be seen, accepted, and passed on. As much as I hate the term spreadability, I keep using it because it is the gear of what drives the current pitch economy. Editors are looking for something that will drive clicks, engagement, and social media shares, sometimes that's breaking news, many times it's the gears of the pitch economy, turning unseen below the surface.
(photo above from a pre-Oscars gifting suite event I attended a few years back)