News flash: 6 tips to capitalize on breaking stories
With the 24-hour news cycle demanding incessant updates about developing reports, PR pros can grab air time for their clients and in-house experts. Here’s how to seize the moment.
This article originally ran on PR Daily in August of 2017.
If you tune in to CNN, Fox News or MSNBC, it’s likely you’ll see one of these on-screen graphics:
BREAKING NEWS
DEVELOPING STORY
HAPPENING NOW
The big three cable networks like to package their news as “breaking,” “developing” or “happening” to attract and retain viewers.
The “breaking” label’s prevalence derives from 24-hour news coverage and a desire to keep up with social media, especially Twitter. Our diminishing attention span plays a role, too.
This immediacy creates challenges—and opportunities—for PR pros.
Pitching a story that has nothing to do with an unfolding news story is a bad idea, unless you enjoy being hung up on.
If your pitch does have a connection to the current breaking story, you can earn major coverage—but you have to do it right.
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