Dropping the ball on media inquiries: The role of deadlines in media catching

Deadlines have always played a significant role in the practice of public relations, especially the media relations specialization. Public relations textbooks and practitioner handbooks encourage budding practitioners to learn how and when journalists, broadcasters, and Internet authors work so that they may pitch story ideas to them appropriately. Even though media catching, an emerging trend in media relations, reverses the traditional direction of story pitching, deadlines are still critical for this new media relations approach. Through a content analysis of 2802 Help-A-Reporter-Out media requests, this study examines how deadlines vary among media outlets engaging in this new media relations story. Statistically significant differences provide insights for public relations practitioners as to how they can best utilize the service to compete for media placements.

Research highlights
► Media catching is an phenomenon in media relations where journalists request specific information from large numbers of public relations practitioners and have them compete with one another for the journalist's attention.
► Though multiple media catching services exist, the one gaining the most attention from industry analysts is the “Help A Reporter Out” service.
► This research found that deadlines vary significantly based on the type of media outlet requesting information and the topics of the requests.
► The role of deadlines play a significant role in the article's suggested media catching best practices.