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Telum Media Practitioner Series webinar: Perfecting the pitch

What journalists actually want from pitches

Journalists receive hundreds of pitches every week. Most never make it beyond the inbox. So what makes one worth opening, and (more importantly) worth turning into a story? 

Join Telum Media for the next webinar in our Practitioner Series, as Reuben Aitchison takes a practical look at what journalists actually want from PR pitches in 2026, what makes a story stand out, and how communications teams can improve their chances of earning meaningful coverage. 

Drawing on Telum Media's insights from more than 10,000 journalists across APAC and the Middle East, alongside current thinking from journalists, editors and leading PR practitioners, this exclusive event for Telum Media clients will explore why successful pitching starts long before the email is written. 

 25 August 2026, Online via Zoom
⏰ 9.00am - 10.00pm GST
⏰ 1.00pm - 2.00pm SGT / HKT
⏰ 3.00p
m - 4.00pm AEST
⏰ 5.00pm - 6.00pm NZST
 

In this session, we’ll cover: 

  • What journalists actually want: Key insights from Telum Media’s Journalist Interest Survey and what they tell us about relevance, newsworthiness, evidence and good pitching etiquette.

  • Finding the story before writing the pitch: How to move beyond an announcement, identify a meaningful “so what?” and build an angle around audience relevance.

  • Understanding an outlet’s “content DNA”: Why knowing a journalist’s beat is no longer enough - and how to match your story to the person, publication, audience, format and moment.

  • Building the story before pressing send: The evidence, data, human stories, spokespeople, access and assets journalists need to turn an idea into coverage.

  • Getting to the point: What makes a subject line and opening compelling, how much information to include and how to make a pitch easy to assess quickly.

  • Pitching beyond traditional media: How to adapt your approach for news creator-led formats, including the different expectations.

  • AI and the rise of the generic pitch: Where AI can genuinely help with research and preparation - and where it risks making outreach less distinctive, less credible and easier to ignore. 

Register for Telum Media Practitioner Series: Perfecting the pitch

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