It pays to be kind

I’d finally refilled my Le Labo bottle after several failed attempts and was happily walking to my workspace in London when I was suddenly reminded of an arrogant entrepreneur in one of the beats I used to cover. A veteran in the industry, he was a strong contact of the magazine and was one of the first people I interviewed when I joined. From the offset he was rude, condescending, and always tried to assert control. In order to continue dealing with him I had to put my feelings towards him to one side. When I broke free, I never had to deal with him on that level again – well, till I was freelancing on a newsdesk and I wrote a critical story about his company and then he turned on me. Karma anyone? 

Over the years since I’ve been freelance I’ve had different PR agencies put him forward for interview slots. He might be a name, but when I think of him I just remember that sense of entitlement and his overwhelming arrogance. It’s always a big fat NO from me. We all know it pays to be kind, but if you or your client are rude or a walking ego, journalists (like most people) remember, meaning perhaps they won’t want to work with you or your client again in the future.

Here’s Where More Journalists Are Hanging Out

In the last 48 hours I’ve had at least four alerts of journalists doing the same thing. Ping. Another has joined. And another one has joined. What is it, you might ask? The answer is Substack, the newsletter publishing platform.

Writing newsletters ain’t anything new but there appears to be a new breed of journalists choosing to go down this route. Many writers are jumping into this field because the traditional publishing model isn’t working for them anymore. Maybe there’s fewer opportunities to cover what they’d like to be writing about. Perhaps they view publishing a newsletter as an additional revenue stream, with some asking subscribers for a reasonable £5 a month to read their words. It may well be early days for some of them but they might turn into a strong side hustle or equate to a decent salary.

It’s another place you can get a glimpse into a journalist’s life (if you want to). You might gain more of an affinity or glimpse into their lifestyle which might make them easier to pitch to. Maybe they might cover what they’re working on at the moment (like moi, sometimes), or there could be an opportunity for you or your client’s brand to be featured in the newsletter as some may be landing in the inbox of your exact target audience. It might be impossible to subscribe to all of them (time-wise or money-wise), but perhaps there’s certain writers in your sector, or some you feel more naturally associated with, that you may wish to follow.

Also, it’s always another great way to build relationships with journalists. “Oh, I read your newsletter on and xxxx” etc might catch their attention and make them feel slightly more inclined to respond.

Here’s a few journalists on Substack that have caught my eye recently:

• Kate Spicer

• Tiffanie Darke

• Caroline Criado Perez (starts from £5 a month)

• Flic Bowden-Smith

• Farrah Storr (from £6 a month)

Is the British press racist?

Hi everyone

It's been a heavy couple of weeks since the last newsletter. I hope you're all holding up ok.

During an interview with Oprah earlier this month, Meghan Markel and Prince Harry made their views of the media pretty clear, telling viewers that the press were “so attacking and incited so much racism”.

This sparked quite the debate, with media industry body the Society of Editors executive director Ian Murray arguing that Meghan’s claims that parts of the media were racist were “not acceptable”. Following this more than 160 journalists and editors from the likes of the Guardian, the Financial Times and HuffPost wrote a letter objecting to the statement.

I'm in agreement with the journalists who put their names to the letter. Unfortunately there is an undeniable issue with the British press when it comes to both the reporting of ethnic minorities and diversity in the newsroom.

The letter signposted clear evidence such as a study by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance which accused two English newspapers of ‘fuelling prejudice’ in a report on rising racist violence and hate speech in the UK (check out page 18), and research from the MCB in 2018 which highlighted startling facts such as over a third of all articles misrepresented or generalised about Muslims.

“There have been numerous examples of complaints upheld against newspapers for inaccurate reporting against Muslims, often including false accusations of extremism,” the letter said.

Since then, Murray has resigned and a further statement from the Society of Editors said its initial comments "did not reflect what we all know: that there is a lot of work to be done in the media to improve diversity and inclusion".

The press needs to be challenged on the way it covers news about ethnic minorities. Like many women, I have been deeply upset by the murder of Sarah Everard. I don't want to take away from the fact a young woman has been killed but we need to assess why there is extensive media coverage when it involves white, middle class women or girls. I was at the Sisters Uncut protests at Scotland Yard and Parliament Square on Sunday and heard from speakers from Black Lives Matter UK, Jewish Solidarity Action, and All Black Lives UK. I stood there and listened as one woman questioned why there had been millions spent on the Madeleine McCann case, when there are missing or murdered black or brown people, and they receive little press attention in comparison? Blessing Olusegun, 21, was found dead on a Bexhill beach on September 18 2020. Her death failed to garner anywhere near as much media coverage despite the suspicious circumstances - she text her boyfriend and friend to stay on the phone. I only heard about Blessing last week. Where is her justice? Here's a petition to for a proper investigation into Blessing's death.

Unfortunately the media industry won't change overnight but we can make a move to ensure that the voices of ethnic minorities are heard in the press. More than ever it's important we all use our privilege to challenge injustices even when they don't impact us.

Thanks for reading.

Susie