This Is The Most Common Question Asked In My Webinars
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Hi everyone
I hope you're managing as well as can be.
The number one question I'm now asked on my webinars or during one of my Power Hours is, “are journalists interested in non-coronavirus stories?” We can all understand why this is a popular question. The C-word continues to dominate the media. Whether it's news of another lockdown and the impact on our mental health or on businesses, or news of the latest changes to the furlough scheme or the self-employment grant, it's still the hottest topic across the globe. Of course, people still want to consume – and editors still want – stories related to Covid-19. Whether we like it or not, it remains the biggest news item worldwide.
However, there's still plenty of room for non-Covid stories. In recent days we've had the election, Johnny Depp losing his libel battle against The Sun and ex-wife Amber Heard, and Dominic West's tryst with Lily James making the front pages. But don't worry if you don't have an A-lister or a politician at hand to help you secure press coverage. When I recently pitched an editor with a few stories, including one related to Covid 19, he stressed that they were trying to keep the feature pages corona-free. With the news section still dominated by coronavirus pieces, the paper wanted to keep readers entertained and enlightened with other things going on in the world. I get it. Even as a journalist, there have been times when I can't face reading yet another story about Covid-19 and I do wonder how much we need a daily countdown of every country's rate of infection and number of deaths.
Against all this doom and gloom, editors want positive story ideas landing in their inbox. In the past week, I've reported on two non-Covid and hopeful stories. For the i, I wrote about the people committed to giving away a substantial amount of their income to effective charities whilst I covered the rise of bartering and sharing economy for the Guardian.
If you look hard enough, you'll see positive stories everywhere (and pitching positive stories is just one of the pieces of advice in my 17 Insider Tips On How to Pitch Journalists During Coronavirus - now just £5 from £19.99 originally). Now as the UK enters Lockdown: The Sequel, it's still as relevant as ever.
Have a great rest of the week,
Susie