Why You Shouldn't Pretend To Be A Journalist's Biggest Fan

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

I bet nearly every journalist has received an email saying something along the lines of “Hi [name of journalist], I'm such a big fan of your work. I loved your article on X [includes title and link to journalist's most recent article]" before going straight in for the kill: "Today we are releasing a line of new cosmetics and we'd love for you to cover it.”

Look, I can understand that some people think flattery may brighten up our inbox and I certainly agree that it's good to be a nice and kind human being. But you don't have to be a jaded and cynical journalist like myself to see right through the above. If you're such a big fan, why haven't you been in touch before? Why have you never dropped me a line to say how much you appreciated my naked yoga article (yes, I did go the full commando - for my sins) or how my piece on volunteering resonated with you? Telling us you're a "big fan" and then promptly going in for the sell tells me you're not such a big fan. If you admire a journalist so much, they might have seen you like their tweets before or comment on a post on LinkedIn. I'm not saying you need to start asking a journalist for a selfie before emailing them. Rather, just don't say it all.

I totally get that you might wish to engage with a journalist but unless you're going to impart something honest, don't say it for the sake of it in some strange attempt to win us over. It won't. 

 Enjoy the rest of the week,

Susie

ps I know most of you would never dream of doing the above.