It's all well and good suggesting that you contact people in the media directly - but what do the titles mean?

We are often asked by our clients and customers who they should contact within a media organisation, so we thought we would give you a quick run down! Here is an overview of the roles and titles you may come across, and who to approach to pitch a story.

Newspapers

If you are contacting a newspaper with a news story, you should go to the news desk or the Chief of Staff, whose role it is to allocate stories to the journalists for following up. However if you have a nifty product or service, you may want to contact the Editor of a particular weekend magazine or supplement. If you know a journalist on a newspaper works in a particular section you want to target, you can also contact the journalist directly. They will have to get the green light from the Editor or Sub-Editor to progress the story so will pitch it on your behalf.

Magazines

Most magazines have an Editor who overseas all the 'story' or editorial sections. Then there are specific Editors for the different sections such as the Fashion Editor, the Features Editor (who writes more in-depth or 'feature' stories), The Beauty or Sports Editor etc. There is often an Editorial Co-ordinator as well. The person in this role receives the incoming emails and presents them to the Editor and/or journalists. They control the email traffic and can be a very good ally to have!

Radio

When pitching a story to radio you need to contact the Producer of a specific show. They will normally collate all the requests and discuss them with the presenters before getting back to you. Another approach for some radio stations is to offer them something to give away to their listeners. This would normally be something you would discuss with the Marketing or Promotions department on the bigger stations and the Station Manager for smaller and regional stations.

TV

The Holy Grail! There are a number of people you can pitch a TV story to, depending on the show. If it is a news story or a photo opportunity then go to the Newsroom and pitch it to the Chief of Staff for that day. For a light entertainment/chat show you can either go to the Executive Producer (who manages the entire show) or one of the Segment Producers (in the case of morning TV or early evening Current Affairs shows). You can also go to the Segment Producer for product reviews and potentially, giveaways. Most TV stations also have a Promotions department who will be looking for prizes for a variety of shows. They are always happy to hear from people but would normally be looking for prizes with a $2,000-$20,000 retail value.

Don't go to...

The advertising department! You may find that an Editor or journalist has passed your details on to the advertising department. They will then contact you and ask for you to buy an ad. If your story is of genuine interest, the Editor will cover it regardless. Advertising has nothing to do with Editorial and the two are not linked in any way. Advertorial is when you basically pay for an 'editorial style' ad. it is NOT PR which is free. Be warned!