reporter

I may have spoken too soon yesterday, lauding the freedom of the press in America, contrasting it with Venezuelan President Chavez' takeover of the airwaves. I didn't speak out of turn, however, when sharing a sincere appreciation for the power of YouTube.

This is the year that CES has fully opened the door for bloggers to apply, and then worked with the Blog Business Summit people to "vet" the bloggers to make sure that they had not just started a blog a couple days prior to get a blogger pass.

Judith Miller gets incarcerated for a story she never wrote about the disclosure of CIA employee Valerie Plame's identity to the media.

PaidContent has an interesting take on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was suspended for writing a pseudonymous blog titled "Rage, Anguish and Other Bad Craziness in St. Louis."

Do you have a great idea for a story, but no clue how to get it in the news? Are you tired of pitching press releases the news media simply ignores? After twenty years of beating the street as a TV reporter, I have a scoop for you: the media needs good stories. But most stories are pitched so poorly, they are lost in the blizzard of faxes that blanket every newsroom. So, here are five steps to increase your chances of getting covered that even some PR pros don't know:

The first rule of PR Rainmaking is to approach reporters as customers. Find out what they want, then give it to them in a way that benefits you and your company. This requires us to learn how to think like a news reporter. For this journey, there may be no better guidebook than James B. Stewart's "Follow the Story."

Always remember: A journalist is nothing more than a professional undergraduate.

Every have trouble convincing a news reporter to cover your story? Here's how to solve that problem. Like all other humans, reporters are subject to the Law of Reciprocity. When they receive cooperation, they will give cooperation. When they receive loyalty, they will give loyalty. When they receive gifts, they will give gifts.