When to pitch broadcast versus print or online
Launch library · evergreen read
Broadcast, print and online formats each favour genuinely different kinds of stories, and pitching the wrong format to the wrong story tends to reduce the chance of coverage regardless of how strong the underlying material actually is on its own merits. Broadcast tends to favour visual, immediate stories, while print and online can generally accommodate considerably more nuance and depth within a single piece.
A story built around a genuinely compelling image or a clearly demonstrable moment often suits broadcast particularly well, while a story requiring careful explanation of context or detailed data usually fares better in a format where the audience can read at their own pace and revisit specific detail as needed later on.
Understanding these underlying differences helps a practitioner tailor not just where a story is pitched but how it is actually framed for each individual format, since the exact same underlying news can be presented quite differently depending on which medium is genuinely expected to carry it to an audience.