God bless reporters. They don’t make much money; they don’t get much of
glory; and they generally work long hours under withering deadline pressure.But here’s most important thing to remember about reporters if you want to get free publicity:
Very often, they’re responsible for coming up with their own story ideas. This is called "enterprising."
This is where you can become reporter’s best friend - and reap a bonanza of free publicity for yourself.
For sake of convenience, I’m going to group newspaper columnists with reporters in this discussion. (This may bother some columnists but I hope they forgive me.)
I’m also going to group print reporters with broadcast reporters. (This will REALLY bother some print reporters, but I hope they also forgive me.)
I’m going to talk about anyone who loosely fits description of "beat" reporter. Anyone who’s responsible for staying-current-with-and-reporting-on a certain topic like technology, business, crime, government, health, travel, consumer affairs, etc.
And let’s not forget real heroes of everyday journalism: general assignment reporters and feature reporters.
While everyone I just mentioned sometimes gets assigned to cover certain stories, very often they find themselves responsible for coming up with their own ideas. This is where your opportunity lies.
It’s been said that most general assignment reporters are a mile wide and an inch deep.
