The Inner Circle Round Up: Media News You Can Use September 2019
Welcome to the September edition of the Inner Circle Round Up! We are welcoming the cooler weather and new PR opportunities to keep us busy. From a focus on climate coverage, new opinion initiatives and a unique business outlet, we hope you can consider these opportunities for your day to day PR activities.
Follow us on Twitter and share any opportunities you came across this month at @ScottCircle.
New Outlets
Time: Biweekly Climate Newsletter Launched
In conjunction with a special climate issue, Time has started a biweekly newsletter on climate. “One.Five,” referencing the UN global goal to keep temperature rise at 1.5 degrees, will “connect major stories and issues to climate change and track progress across industries.”
The Inner Circle Take: Many news organizations are focusing resources on climate coverage, in an effort to educate and alert readers as the climate crisis intensifies. If you have clients in the climate space, you know it is a crowded space for media opportunitiesThis newsletter will not only be a resource for you, but is also an opportunity to see how media is covering climate change and how you can best fit your climate expert in the mix.
BBC News: New Millennial News Show with Quibi
BBC News has announced a partnership with Quibi, a short-form video platform, to create a new five minute news show targeted at millennial audiences. With an expected launch of April 2020, the show will air weekdays and will be formatted for mobile. The show will cover international news.
The Inner Circle Take: More news for millenials! While the format of the show is yet to be revealed, if your client wants to reach a millennial audience, this show is one to remember. We’ll be following how this show evolves, so make sure to check back for updates.
McClatchy: New Nationwide Opinion Initiative
McClatchy has announced a national opinion initiative, creating a single opinion page for its 30 media companies. The move is a part of its effort to “achieve deeper results from its opinion pages.” Under the new structure, local opinion editors will report to the national opinion editor and editorial boards will be combined. The page will feature local community focused news, but will now be available to a wider audience. Stories will focus on news that readers won’t find typically in national media.
The Inner Circle Take: While this initiative is also very much a business decision for McClatchy, it is also a unique way to bring local news to their audience across the U.S. For PR pros, it could be a great way to get more eyes on a local opinion piece you’ve secured in one of McClatchy’s newsrooms.
Marker: New Medium Platform for Business and Startup News
Marker is a new publication housed on Medium aiming to be a business resource and helping readers better understand the world of business and its impact. Marker has a team of journalists, including former Axios editor, Steve LeVine, and will also feature expert series and regular columnists. Verticals include Founder Stories, Long View, Off Brand, One Question and OPE (Operator’s Manual).
The Inner Circle Take: There are many business focused news outlets, but Marker hopes to stand out by staying away from commodity news and career advice. For PR professionals, this is an opportunity to pitch your business expert for potential perspective pieces and another outlet to consider in your day to day outreach.
Reuters: Launch of Amazon Alexa Content
Reuters announced a collaboration with Amazon Alexa to help answer customer questions. They plan to deliver over 45,0000 stories each month on a variety of topics including breaking news, politics, business, sports and entertainment. Using the power of 2,500 journalists in more than 200 locations around the world, they will leverage their “metadata and best-in-class API.”
The Inner Circle Take: Reuters joins the growing trend to integrate voice assisted technology in the news landscape. Just as publishers are adapting the way they reach their audience, PR pros need to also adapt to help meet the evolving needs of news outlets. Considering how your latest media pitch or campaign can be modified for smart speaker content is the first step to get in this space.
New to Us (and maybe to you, too!)
Next Avenue: News for America’s 50+ generation
Within the PBS system, Next Avenue is a news service targeting “America’s booming older population.” They cover the issues that matter most to older American including health, money & policy, work & purpose, living, caregiving and technology. In addition to regular news content and perspectives, they deliver a weekly newsletter.
The Inner Circle Take: If you are aiming to reach older populations, Next Avenue should definitely be on you media list. The wide variety of coverage topics and type of content, from perspectives to news and advice, provides a lot of potential pitching opportunities.