Pitching Stories to Opinion Page Journalists

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San Jose Mercury News Opinion Page Editor Barbara Marshman and Orange County Register Opinion Page Senior Writer and Columnist Steven Greenhut to discuss the personality of their newspaper’s opinion sections and their predictions for where opinion journalism is heading in the age of citizen journalism and social media.

Show notes:

4:03 – Marshman on her daily responsibilities at the SJ Merc.

4:48 – Greenhut on his daily responsibilities at the OC Register.

5:27 – Marshman on the key to a successful PR pitch, and the best way to reach her.

8:10 – Greenhut identifies the OC Register’s editorial philosophy.

9:41 – Greenhut on what warrants an editorial board meeting and the process of coordinating one.

12:12 – Marshman reveals some typical mistakes PR practitioners tend to make when attempting to coordinate editorial board meetings.

16:31 – Greenhut on the SJ Merc editorial section’s “off the record” policy.

17:30 – Marshman discusses the value of going off the record with the opinion page.

20:50 – Marshman’s future outlook on the influence of editorial opinion.

24:51 – Greenhut on the challenges of being a part of the newspaper business today.

25:50 – Greenhut discloses the mistakes the newspaper business has made in response to today’s changing media landscape.

29:24 – Marshman on the pressure blogs impose on mainstream opinion journalism.

31:14 – Marshman on what newspapers have that user-generated sources don’t.

35:53 – End

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash