Journalists get a lot of emails every day, hundreds of phone calls and notifications via RSS or Twitter. All of them ask them to write about them. On what basis, then, do reporters choose about what they are going to inform readers?
Everywhere in the world, this decision is influenced by 5 factors - time, speed, space, profit and bias.
- Time. Journalists have never before been under such pressure. It is not enough to write an article every day, you need to constantly update information online. In addition, due to the crisis, one reporter often does the same job as three did few years ago. So if your story requires more effort or research, reporters are likely to to avoid it.
- Speed. Due to pace of competition media often don't check the facts. They need to publish news as the first, or at least as soon as possible after the competition. So if the point of your story is not explained quickly and easily, reporters can easily make a mistake.
- Space. Journalists are forced to shorten articles. Therefore, what can happen quite easily is that your story will be published and its point will be completely lost due to the original article being shortened.
- Profit. Majority of the media need to make a profit. Therefore, they publish articles that attract the widest audience in order to get high advertising profits. And because conflicts sell well, a reporter is more likely to write about you, if the story can be described as a fight between two parties.
- Bias. Certain media are clearly ideologically focused. However, most of the current media are mainly focused on cheap, visually interesting stories. Reporters always like to cover those.
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