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Michelle Carter has been a journalist since 2001 and is unique in that she has also worked in PR. She has seen the impact of bad pitching (and bad news) on both sides. In fact, she is launching a new crowd-funded local news platform called Newsfundr, designed specifically to bring news back to every community, and let people support journalists they trust directly.

One of her major pet peeves is blanket pitches, usually sent by people trying to DIY their own PR or agency interns. According to Michelle, it doesn’t matter how interesting your pitch is, if it is sent to someone who doesn’t write about your field, it’s pointless. Sending a pitch about the best new restaurant in town gets you nowhere when you send it to the religion reporter at the local paper.

She says that reporters can usually tell just by scanning the subject line whether a pitch is aimed directly at you or at everyone. The latter gets deleted without being read.

Listen to this episode of The Pitch Podcast for more great advice on how to secure coverage for you and your brand.

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