Pitching Business News Reporters with Heather Green

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I had a conversation with BusinessWeek technology department editor and Blogspotting blogger Heather Green about how she got into covering technology, BusinessWeek’s personality, and much more. 

She also talks about her journalism career, how she prefers to work with public relations firms, where technology is taking us, and much more.

SHOW NOTES

03: 18: Eric gives a quick rundown on Heather Green’s resume; Heather shares thoughts about her experience, which included a stint abroad working at the International Herald Tribune as an editorial assistant and at Bloomberg News during the birth of the internet.

08:50: Heather dishes on the personality of BusinessWeek and how it differs from its competitors, Forbes and Fortune. “Authority and authenticity, and I think our readers trust us,” she says. However, the magazine is trying to attain a warmer, friendlier tone, evidenced by the BlogSpotting blog she writes with Stephen Baker.

10:43: Heather says new technology like bogging has impacted mags like BusinessWeek in that reporters need to bring more analysis of the new technology and trends instead of just straight-on reporting. More discussion about the evolution of new technology.

14:00: Fifty pitches a day flood Heather’s inbox from PR professionals, who do “a pretty good job” pitching stories. Decisions for stories for either blog or book depend on interest, magazine publishing schedule, and relationships.

18:40: Blogspotting gets high traffic in the “Comments” section from readers, and Heather has even picked a few story ideas from this.

20:17: Heather discusses internal reaction at BusinessWeek to blogs. Overall, the magazine and staff are “adapting.” Heather and Steve—resident Geeks?

24:46: BlogSpotting traffic measured using Technorati, Intelliseek, and BusinessWeek’s internal tracking service. Heather discusses the overall objective of the blog.

28:09: Heather mentions the blogs she has posted comments on people’s blogs like Jeff Jarvis and Dan Gillmor.

29:58: People are still confused about podcasting and RSS, although media outlets like NPR are contributing to the increasing awareness of podcasts. RSS remains a murky subject.

31:40: The future of podcasts for businesses. Heather mentions that Virgin Atlantic is discussing podcasts for flight attendants and pilots. Earning calls are also perfect opportunities for podcasts. But they are not appropriate for internal notices.

33:45: Will PodShow be a viable business? Eric also mentions in his interview with Ron Bloom the subject of corporate communications money rather than advertising dollars for podcasts. Eric cites Neville Hobbs’ article in Global PR Week – a virtual gathering of internal PR pros and executives public relations firms – in which Neville said, “Podcasting is the informal voice of the organization.” Heather agrees.

36:23: Heather shares her thoughts on podcasts disrupting other media, Apple’s new deal with ABC, Clear Channel’s aggressive streaming content online, and the future of Apple as either a hardware or media company.

43:29: Heather says she listens to the following podcasts: Insomnia Radio, Coverville, Whirlpool, Adam Curry, and NPR.

44:24: Interview ends.

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash