A media pitch is a short, personal message offering one journalist one story idea matched to what they cover. The media pitch examples below — four that work and one that fails on purpose — show the pattern every answered pitch shares: a subject line that carries the news, an opening that proves relevance to that journalist’s audience, the story itself in two or three sentences, a piece of proof, and an ask so small it is easier to answer than to ignore.

Every pitch in this article is invented. The companies, people, products and figures are fictional, written to show the mechanics; real pitches are private correspondence and stay that way. What can be taught honestly is the anatomy, and the anatomy is fully visible in made-up examples — which has the side benefit that you can see a bad pitch’s faults without anyone’s real work being held up to ridicule. Read each working example twice: once as the journalist receiving it, once against the five-part anatomy that follows.

The anatomy every working pitch shares

Before the examples, the five parts to hold them against:

• The subject line. Carries the actual news — what changed, where, for whom — with no clickbait adjectives doing the work of facts.
• The relevance line. One sentence proving this is for this journalist and their readers, usually by referencing what they actually cover.
• The news core. The story in two or three sentences. If it cannot be stated that briefly, it is not yet a story.
• The proof. A fact, a person, early access or data with its method visible — something the journalist can stand on.
• The low-friction ask. One specific, small request, ideally with times attached: a short call, an interview window, an embargo date.

None of the five matters if the message lands in the wrong inbox. Knowing exactly who covers what — and keeping that knowledge current — is the unglamorous foundation under all of it, which is why the humble press release contact list earns its keep.

A word about length before the examples: none of the working pitches below runs to more than a short paragraph or two. That is not terseness for its own sake. A pitch is read on a phone, between other stories, by someone deciding in seconds whether it deserves a minute. Everything beyond the five parts is either proof the journalist asked for or material that belongs somewhere else.

Example 1: a product launch pitch (fictional)

Invented scenario: a small hardware startup is launching a countertop food-waste composter, and the pitch goes to a reporter who covers the city’s waste policy.

Subject: Launch: a countertop composter tested for a month in every flat on one street

Hi Priya — you wrote last month about the council cutting food-waste collections, so this may fit your patch. Northbeam, a two-year-old hardware startup here in Leeds, launches its countertop composter on 12 May. Instead of a showroom launch, they lent units to every flat on one street for a month and weighed what came back. The founder can talk through what households actually composted — and what they refused to — and two residents are willing to be interviewed. Embargoed release, photos and the street’s results sheet are ready if useful. Would a 15-minute call on Thursday or Friday suit? — Dan

Why this works: the relevance line names the journalist’s own recent reporting, not her job title. The news core arrives in two sentences and contains a genuine twist — the street test — that turns a product launch into a story about behaviour. The proof is concrete (results sheet, residents available), the ask is small and carries its own times, and nothing is attached: the embargoed release is offered, not imposed.

Example 2: a data and story pitch (fictional)

Invented scenario: an accountancy practice has compared invoice payment terms across its small-business clients, and the pitch goes to a small-business columnist.

Subject: Data: payment terms on small-firm invoices quietly lengthened this year

Hi Marcus — for your small business column: Harbour and Grey, an accountancy practice working with around 300 small firms, compared the payment terms on the invoices its clients issued this spring with the same period last year. The average stated term had stretched by nine days, and a tenth of invoices now sit on terms of 60 days or longer. The firm will share the anonymised breakdown by sector, and one client — a joinery in Sheffield — will talk on the record about what longer terms do to wages week. Full tables are available under embargo until Monday. Worth a look for the column? — Aisha

Why this works: the lead is the finding and the change, not the client — the firm is introduced as the source, in second place, which is where sources belong. The method is visible enough to judge (what was compared, across whom, over what period), an on-the-record human case is offered alongside the numbers, and the embargo gives the columnist time to work rather than a race to lose. The pitch sells a story; the client is credited by being its origin.

Example 3: an expert comment pitch (fictional)

Invented scenario: a government consultation on sick-pay rules closes on Friday, and an employment solicitor is offered to a news reporter likely to cover the outcome.

Subject: Comment available Friday: what the sick-pay changes mean for small employers

Hi Tom — if you are covering Friday’s consultation outcome, Ruth Osei, an employment solicitor who advises mostly employers with fewer than 50 staff, can comment on the practical side: what changes on day one, what payroll has to do differently, and the two mistakes small firms most often make with sick pay. She can turn round two or three sentences within the hour on Friday, or speak live if that is more useful. Her short biography is pasted below my signature — no attachment. — Leah

Why this works: it is sent before the news breaks, aimed at a deadline the journalist already has. The expertise is specific (employers of a particular size, practical consequences) rather than a generic claim to authority, the offer is in directly usable forms — quick written comment or live interview — and the biography travels inside the message instead of as a file. Comment pitched after publication is not a pitch; it is a complaint about timing.

Example 4: an event pitch (fictional)

Invented scenario: a small theatre, closed for years, is reopening, and the pitch goes to a local reporter and picture desk.

Subject: Photo and interview opportunity: the Regal Rooms reopens after eleven years dark

Hi Sarah — the Regal Rooms, the old variety theatre on Mill Street, reopens on Saturday 21 June after eleven years closed. The first audience will include three people who performed there as children in the 1960s and are returning as guests of honour. If you would like to send a photographer to the final dress rehearsal on Thursday evening (7 to 9pm), the house lights are being switched on ceremonially at 8. I can hold two seats and arrange five minutes with the artistic director and with the returning performers. — Jo

Why this works: the subject line is written the way news desks label such things — an opportunity, with the story inside it. The human detail (performers returning after six decades) is the story, not the refurbishment. And the logistics have been done for the journalist: a named evening, a timed visual moment, seats held, access arranged. Event pitches fail when they describe an event; they work when they hand over a picture and a person.

Example 5: the pitch that fails (fictional, shown on purpose)

Subject: EXCITING NEWS!!! Local company launches AMAZING new product — press release attached!!!

Dear Sir/Madam, I hope this email finds you well! We are delighted and thrilled to announce that Brightpath Solutions, a dynamic and innovative leader in its space, has launched a game-changing new product that is set to revolutionise the industry. Please find attached our press release and high-resolution images. We would love for you to cover this exciting development. Do let us know when the article will be published. Kind regards, the Brightpath Team

Every fault in it is common, and together they are fatal:

• Written to nobody. “Dear Sir/Madam” and no reference to anything the recipient covers. A pitch that fits every inbox fits none.
• The news is buried. Nowhere does it say what the product is, what it does or what has changed. There is no story here to accept.
• Adjectives doing the work of facts. Dynamic, innovative, game-changing, revolutionise — claims with nothing underneath them, which journalists discount on sight.
• Attachment sins. A long release and heavy images sent uninvited; many newsroom systems strip, block or quarantine exactly this kind of mail.
• An entitled close. It asks when coverage will appear, as if coverage were owed. A pitch is an offer, not an invoice.

Notice that each fault is a courtesy failure as much as a craft failure: the message costs a busy person time and offers nothing in exchange — no relevance, no story, no proof, no easy next step. The repair is not mysterious. Name the journalist and their beat, state the product and the change in the subject line, cut every adjective that is not carrying a fact, move the release below the signature instead of into an attachment, and end with a small offer instead of a demand. The repaired version would run to about a third of the length — and would be the first version of this pitch with any chance of being read to the end.

Tailoring versus templating, honestly

Templates are not the enemy; pretending they are tailoring is. A skeleton — subject pattern, structure, sign-off — saves time and keeps a team consistent. But the relevance line and the news core have to be written for the individual recipient, because those are the two parts the journalist actually judges. A template with a swapped first name is still a blast, and journalists can tell within one line. The practical middle path is to build the pitch once per story, then rewrite the first two lines and the ask for each person it goes to.

The mechanics around the pitch have their own guidance, deliberately not repeated here: the logistics of how to send a press release, the craft of emailing a press release well, and the wider question of getting a press release noticed. The pitch is the personal layer on top of those systems — which is exactly why it cannot be automated away.

A short pre-send checklist

Thirty seconds against this list, before every send, prevents most of the failures above:

• Does the subject line contain the actual news?
• Would the first line make sense addressed to nobody else but this journalist?
• Can the whole story be understood in under a minute?
• Is every claim provable from something you can send?
• Is the ask one sentence, with a time attached?
• Would you answer it — on deadline, on a phone, between two other stories?

Frequently asked questions

How long should a media pitch be?

Shorter than most people write: a subject line and six to ten short lines of message. The story must be graspable in under a minute. Supporting detail belongs in the release, photographs and documents you offer — not pasted into the pitch itself.

Should a pitch include the full press release?

Offer it rather than force it: paste it below the pitch or link to it, so an interested journalist can keep reading without opening anything. Heavy attachments sent uninvited are routinely stripped or blocked, and a pitch that depends on one may never be seen whole.

How many journalists should receive the same pitch?

As few as honestly fit the story. Relevance decays as the list grows, and journalists who spot a blast discount it. For a genuinely strong match, offering one journalist first refusal — and saying so — often earns more attention than sending to fifty.

What makes a good pitch subject line?

It carries the news in terms of that journalist’s audience: what changed, where, and who it affects. Specific nouns and a real development beat adjectives and exclamation marks every time; the subject line is a headline, not an advertisement.

Is it acceptable to follow up a pitch?

Once, briefly, and only if the follow-up adds something — a new fact, a deadline, an extra offer of access. Repeated “just checking in” messages convert a neutral no-reply into an active no, and they spend goodwill the next story will need.