ChicExecs Co-Founder and Co-President, Nikki Carlson, shares five ways freelance journalists are changing the media landscape on Forbes blog. Enjoy this excerpt from the article.
Once upon a time, the media industry had newsrooms packed with journalists. But today, much of the news cycle is happening remotely, and with freelance journalists instead of employees.
This shift to freelance journalism changes the way that brands should approach media relationships and pitching. Keep your eye on these five major changes to the media landscape.
1. Greater Diversity Of Perspectives
By hiring freelancers, outlets are able to share stories from a greater variety of people. While most media outlets definitely put their spin on stories, this is still a great way to showcase more diverse stories that the media would normally overlook. If outlets have looked over your brand story in the past, try reaching out to freelancers! They might be able to convince the outlet to give you a shot.
2. 24/7 News Coverage
Journalists are only human. Although the news cycle is 24/7, media room journalists aren’t able to work around the clock. Fortunately, freelance journalists make it possible to share the burden.
3. Broader Skills
Freelance journalism is pretty competitive. Today, freelancers have to be more than talented writers, they need to have full media production capabilities to hang with the major media outlets. This means that today’s freelance journalists are more well-rounded, with skills that were once considered nice-to-haves, such as:
• Voiceovers
• Graphics
• Filming
• On-air talent
• Video editing
4. Different Pitching Contacts
Although there are fewer journalists today, there are more PR professionals pitching to journalists. In-house journalists are getting bombarded with requests, so outlets will pull in freelancers to lighten the workload. This does have a big effect on how you pitch your brand to journalists, though.
5. Decentralization
While it’s still a good idea to pitch to media outlets, the switch to freelance journalism has decentralized the entire industry. This means that freelancers themselves are becoming outlets. Freelance journalists have their own reputation and brand to manage, just like Good Morning America or ABC News.
Read Nikki’s entire blog here.
