Pitching Bloomberg’s Brody Ford
June 20, 2022
10:45 am
Brody Ford last month succeeded Joe Williams as the Bloomberg tech reporter most likely to write the story you’re pitching. Time to get him on the radar.
>> Strategies & Pitch Opps
12 Commandments from Contributed Content Gatekeepers
April 26, 2022
5:46 am
This month we studied guidelines from contributed content gatekeepers. Dozens and dozens of them.
Analysis: A Tale of Two Fortunes
April 22, 2022
8:20 am
This is a tale of two Fortunes — “new” Fortune and “classic” Fortune, each with their own needs and culture. You’ll want to approach accordingly.
Contributed Content Pitch Opp: The San Francisco Standard
April 6, 2022
4:00 pm
If you have a San Francisco-based story to tell, you can tell it yourself in the San Francisco Standard, now in its second year.
A POV on Insider/Business Insider
March 21, 2022
8:41 am
Earlier this month a subscriber asked us for a POV on Insider/Business Insider. What makes them tick? Our response initially was intended only for the subscriber — but we changed our mind about that.
Beware Hostile ‘Climate’ Edit
March 21, 2022
7:14 am
Protocol launched a climate vertical last week. Axios launched a new Climate Truths Deep Dive series, chronicling “how climate change affects nearly everything…” Insider this month launched a multi-part article series on Financing a Sustainable Future.
TC’s ‘Equity’ Podcast Turns Five
March 11, 2022
3:55 pm
TechCrunch’s Equity podcast turns five years old this week. If you haven’t listened lately, consider it. It’s “a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.”
Change is Coming to 31-Year-Old ZDNet
March 4, 2022
9:22 am
Change is coming to 31-year-old ZDNet. According to EIC Jason Hiner, ZDNet is honing its focus on professionals of all sorts — not just IT pros. Its historic emphasis on B2B and IT will soon be over.
Inside Datanami’s ‘People to Watch’ List
March 3, 2022
12:31 pm
Datanami last week announced its list of 2022’s People to Watch. Datanami last week announced its list of 2022’s People to Watch. Eight men, four women. Six whites, six from cultures under-represented. “I can’t say that it’s a scientific process,” EIC Alex Woodie told us.
On Ukraine
March 1, 2022
6:14 am
On Feb. 28 we received an inquiry from a subscriber (vendor, not agency) asking whether journalists were bristling at being pitched in light of the crisis in Ukraine. The subscriber said “proactive pitching” had been paused. Here was our response…
YOUR ACCOUNT
[custom-twitter-feeds]
FRIDGE NOTES
Open Stats for Nov. 30 SWMS emailer
December 1, 2022
The SWMS-Semrush Top 15 Index was the most-opened article in our Nov. 30 emailer. Then, in descending order… cheat sheet on exec interview opps; Fortune contributed content formulas; “Challenge of 2023” analysis; Krazit/Kaye share what works; Protocol shuts down; cheat sheet on VC events/SMB events; cheat sheet on smart lighting
A16Z’s ‘Future’ Shutting Down
December 1, 2022
Great perspective from Insider reporters Rob Price and Melia Russell. Excerpt: “It doesn’t always end well when you hire people to tell the world how great you are. Future.com, from my periodic glances, is a snooze fest, devoid of even the most justifiable skepticism and tension,” wrote Brad Stone, a veteran tech journalist, in a Bloomberg newsletter this year.”
Rachel Metz Laid Off from CNN
December 1, 2022
From Mastodon…
Rachel Metz on mastodon @rachelmetz@mstdn.social
“i was laid off from CNN today (and i’m not the only one). i’m devastated; i loved my job. i was CNN’s only AI reporter, and the *last remaining* CNN Digital reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area. i’m taking a beat to breathe, but i’ll be looking for a new reporting job ASAP.”
This Slate Reporter Responded to Every Pitch He Received…
November 30, 2022
… at least for one day. His tale is poignant, albeit tl;dr.
Ramaswamy Leaves TechCrunch for Reuters
November 21, 2022
Anita Ramaswamy is leaving TechCrunch to be a U.S. columnist at Reuters BreakingViews, covering crypto primarily.
CNBC Reporter Suspicious of PR
November 21, 2022
CNBC personal finance senior editor Jim Pavia posted this on Twitter: “A PR rep pitched an op/ed and said it was exclusive to CNBC. We did edits and I pinged her with a pub time. She said colleagues sent the piece to another media outlet “unbeknownst” to her and it published. Wonder why my comfort level is so low when it comes to PR firms?”