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Credit: TekGroup
February 22, 2018 //  //       //  Opinion

What journos want, what they really really want

By: Jacques Couret

What do journalists think about the content we create for clients? What do they want from us and them?

TekGroup has chimed in with its 18th annual Online Newsroom Survey Report, which asks professional journalists about their needs. Their wants in a nutshell:

  • Current and accurate contact info
  • Executive photographs
  • Content should be updated timely with social media not significantly after the fact
  • Don’t make us jump through hoops to get high resolution photographs
  • The phone number for a real person that has the authority to speak to products, activities and issues into which the company is involved
  • Positive feel-good stories

As a former journalist, the only surprise to me is “positive feel-good stories.” That might be my own cynicism or a bias from having toiled in hard news for 20 years.

Unsurprisingly, journalists said email alerts and social distribution are key. In fact, 92 percent prefer to get news and story pitches by email and 50 percent said they visited an online newsroom once a month. As a reporter, I certainly preferred email pitches over a phone call or snail mail. I also visited online newsrooms, though more frequently, and always appreciated a well-designed site with plenty of current information, a good searchable news archive and an extensive photo library.

Download the report here and get more intel about how editors, reporters, producers, correspondents and bloggers work with online newsrooms, digital audio and video, press release distribution services and PR professionals. 

Jacques Couret is a former journalist who currently serves as editorial manager of All Told, Allison+Partners global integrated marketing offering. 

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