Strong quotes and clear email subject line help reporters evaluate press releases

By Issac Morgan, Newsmatics, Inc.

This is part of a Substack series, Inside the Newsroom:
What Journalists Really Look for in Press Releases,
based on interviews with journalists — including veteran reporters and editors —
about how they evaluate press releases.

Politics is one of the busiest areas of coverage for many reporters, and press releases often help them track developments, spot trends, or build out larger stories.

That’s especially true when a news release touches on hot‑button topics within politics, said Mitch Perry, a veteran reporter covering politics who has worked in both TV and print, including Bay News 9.

“I’m a political reporter, so I like pitches that relate to public policy issues and stories about politics and/or elections,” said Perry, a senior reporter for the Florida Phoenix.

He noted that he also covers gun policy, the environment and other statewide issues, so releases tied to those subjects are far more likely to get his attention than something outside his beat.

Perry, who has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades, said the topic is the first thing he looks for — a press release should connect “with something I’m familiar with.”

He added that strong quotes and a clear email subject line help a reporter quickly assess whether a pitch is worth opening. “Sometimes a reporter can be so busy that it’s great to have some quotes available right then and there,” he said.

Perry also appreciates when PR teams show they’ve done their homework. “I do get pitches by PR agents who have noticed that I have written on a particular subject, and reference that as a way to raise my interest,” Perry said.

What he doesn’t appreciate are mass‑forwarded emails blasted to every reporter in a newsroom. “I swear there are a certain number of folks who just blanket send messages to every reporter they know — regardless of what the reporter actually covers,” he said.

Still, Perry emphasized that press releases remain useful tools for political journalists. “Press releases have helped me write stories I wasn’t even thinking of, or can enhance a project I’m already working on,” Perry said. “So they are not a waste of time by any measure.”