Most small businesses that fail to get press coverage do not have a distribution problem. They have an angle problem. They send a reporter the news that matters to them, such as a new menu, a new sign or an anniversary, and the reporter, correctly, sees nothing that matters to readers. The fix is not a better subject line. It is learning to see your business the way an editor does.
This guide walks through the criteria journalists use to judge whether something is a story, then shows how a local business can apply each one honestly. It complements our broader guides to local media outreach and getting media coverage, which cover what to do after you have found the angle.
What "newsworthy" means
Journalism has a recurring set of criteria, often called news values. There is no single official list, and different sources group them differently, but the same ideas appear again and again. The Evangelical Press Association's "Journalism 101" article lists timeliness, proximity, impact or consequence, novelty or rarity, conflict, human interest and prominence. The University of Nebraska Omaha's public relations guidance names impact, proximity, timeliness, prominence, conflict, human interest and novelty or oddity. Two sources, one list with nearly the same members.
Two points from these sources matter for a business owner:
- Most good stories have two or three of these qualities. The Evangelical Press Association notes that few stories have all of them. You do not need to hit every criterion. You need at least a couple.
- The test is about the reader, not about you. The same article suggests asking whether the story matters to readers, and describes the "so what" test for impact. If you cannot say why a stranger would care, the angle is not ready.
Applying each criterion to a local business
Impact
The University of Nebraska Omaha describes impact as arguably the most important element of newsworthiness: the more people affected, the greater the news interest. For a local business, impact means a change in what people in the area can do, pay, get or avoid. Ask: does something we are doing change life for a meaningful number of local people? A service that now reaches a part of town that had none, a program that helps a group of residents, or a response to a problem the community has been talking about all have impact. A rearranged storefront does not.
Proximity
Journalists care about effects on their own communities. The University of Nebraska Omaha's example is that a state's new tax code is unlikely to interest readers across state lines. For you, proximity is the strongest card you hold: you are local by definition. Make that explicit in the pitch by naming the neighborhood, the town or the audience. The Nebraska guidance also notes that experts can occasionally help localize a larger national story, by providing insight or pointing to similar projects happening locally. If a national story is in the news and your business has genuine expertise in the area, your local view may be the piece an editor lacks.
Timeliness
Audiences want current information. The Nebraska guidance advises researchers to loop in the communications office before an article is published so the pitch can emphasize the newest element of the story. The principle applies to you: tie the story to something happening now, such as a season, a deadline, a local event or a change in the news. A story with no reason to run this week will wait in line behind ones that do. Our guide on reactive PR and newsjacking covers how to respond to the news cycle without sounding tone-deaf.
Prominence
The Evangelical Press Association points out that famous people's actions attract more attention than those of ordinary people, and the Nebraska guidance notes that high-profile figures make coverage more likely and that visits from national figures often require months of preparation. Most local businesses do not have a famous person attached, but prominence is relative. A respected long-time local figure, a well-known organization you are partnering with or a recognized award can all raise the profile of a story. Do not stretch this: if the connection is thin, leave it out.
Human interest
Human-interest stories are about shared experience. The Nebraska guidance describes them as stories about things like personal growth or an unexpected act of kindness, and notes that they can add value to stories that lack other news values. For a local business this is often the richest source: the employee who started on the lowest rung and now runs a department, the customer whose problem you solved in an unusual way, the family that has run the shop through several economic cycles. Always get the permission of the people involved before offering their story.
Novelty and conflict
Novelty, or rarity, means something unusual enough to stand out. The Evangelical Press Association says a common event is not news. Check whether you are actually first, or whether you are simply describing what your industry does every day. Conflict is the criterion most small businesses should approach with care. Disputes draw attention, but a business picking a public fight with a competitor, a landlord or a customer is a risk to your reputation, not an angle. If you do have a legitimate position on a local debate, say so factually and be prepared to be quoted.
A worksheet to test your idea
Before you pitch, write one sentence for each of these questions. If you cannot answer at least two with something concrete, keep working on the angle.
- Impact: Who in our area is affected, and how?
- Proximity: Which neighborhood, town or group is this about?
- Timeliness: Why should a reporter run this now rather than next month?
- Prominence: Is there a recognized person, organization or award tied to it that we can document?
- Human interest: Is there a person whose experience illustrates the story, and have they agreed to share it?
- Novelty: What is genuinely new or unusual, and how do we know?
- So what? In one sentence, why would a stranger read this?
Turning an angle into a pitch
A good angle changes how you write everything else. The subject line should lead with the reason a reporter would care, not with your company name. Our guide to subject line formulas for cold pitches shows how. If you are drafting a release, the same angle should drive the headline; see press release headline formulas. For broadcast, the angle needs a visual element as well, which we discuss in pitching local TV news.
Common mistakes
- Pitching an event as news because it is important to you. The reader's interest decides, not yours.
- Overstating the impact. Be exact about who is affected and say nothing you cannot support.
- Stretching prominence or novelty. An editor will check, and a stretched claim damages your credibility for the next pitch.
- Using people's stories without permission. Human interest depends on trust.
- Ignoring the calendar. Timeliness is part of the story, so plan around real dates.
The takeaway
Newsworthiness is not a mystery. Check your idea against impact, proximity, timeliness, prominence, human interest, novelty and conflict, look for at least two real strengths, and describe them in terms of the reader. Local businesses have a natural advantage in proximity and human interest; the work is finding the story that is already there and telling it honestly.
Sources
- University of Nebraska Omaha, Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications, "What is newsworthy": https://www.unomaha.edu/office-of-strategic-marketing-and-communications/public-relations/what-is-newsworthy.php (impact, proximity, timeliness, prominence, conflict, human interest, novelty; localizing national stories)
- Evangelical Press Association, "Journalism 101: What Makes a Story Newsworthy?" (no date shown): https://www.evangelicalpress.com/journalism-101-what-makes-a-story-newsworthy/ (timeliness, proximity, impact, novelty, conflict, human interest, prominence; most stories have two or three; "so what" test)