The Inner Circle Round Up: Media News You Can Use May 2020
Welcome to the May Edition of the Inner Circle Round Up. Since the pandemic began, we’ve noticed a decline in new media opportunities. This comes as no surprise as new outlets continue to face layoffs and changes. We’re still here to provide you news you can use in your day-to-day PR activities, so this month, we’re sharing some resources for PR pros during coronavirus and a few media opportunities to look forward to.
Follow us on Twitter and share any opportunities you came across this month at @ScottCircle.
PR Resources You Can Use
How to correctly reference all the new pandemic lingo from AP Stylebook
Best practices for pitching media during the COVID-19 crisis from Cision’s 2020 State of the Media Report
How Companies Are Engaging Employees During COVID-19 from Institute for PR
How to communicate during unprecedented times from Cision
Who’s covering coronavirus from Agility PR Solutions
How to keep your culture thriving and your team morale up with CircleUp (SCC Plug!)
New Media Opportunities
The New York Times: Tech podcast to launch this Fall
New York Times is launching a new tech podcast hosted by “Recode Decode’s” Kara Swisher.
Known as “Silicon Valley’s most feared journalist,” she will bring her sharp interview skills and continue to hold major figures accountable. According to NYT, she will interview a wider range of individuals from political leaders to pioneers in science and culture.
The Inner Circle Take: We’re looking forward to more illuminating interviews with an expanded roster of interviewees from Kara Swisher. While many of the guests seem to be high profile, if the news cycle works in your favor, maybe your organization’s leader could speak to a timely issue on the new podcast.
McClatchy: New Text to Audio feature
McClatchy is now offering a text to audio feature, following the trend of increased digital audio consumption. Its 30 news outlets now instantly offer audio versions of stories through AI and machine learning. According to MediaPost, in a soft launch with two news outlets, user engagement spiked.
The Inner Circle Take: Is audio everything? Many news outlets are expanding their audio initiatives, opening up their stories to a whole new audience and keeping their current audience more engaged. For PR pros, audio means more people listening to their cause, their leader or new data.
TIME: Newsletter Interview Series
TIME has rolled out a new newsletter series, The Leadership Brief, which will focus on business and technology. The weekly newsletter will feature leaders from Peleton, Accenture, Microsoft and more. Noting unprecedented times, TIME deputy editor Eben Shapiro said “many businesses are filling a leadership void vacated by the government. That is a really important change we believe we need to cover and explain to our audience.”
The Inner Circle Take: Has your organization stepped up to meet the new needs created by the pandemic? Is your leader taking an innovative approach to leadership during this unprecedented time? Maybe TIME’s new newsletter will be an opportunity for you.