Journalism 101: for Deeptech Founders

I have to remind people that I am a journalist, almost every single day.

Talking to collegues I realise that this is not a unique problem and that there is a lot of confusion between the lines of journalism, PR, and social media.

In this piece I want to show you a few different ways to get covered by journalists, share helpful insights into approaching journalists, the types of stories that can be written, and more specifically the kind of stories that I produce so if it’s a good match, you can get in touch! 

Is a podcast journalism, a vlog, an article published in social media?

In the era of digital media it is very hard to understand what is paid for, what is an advertisement or sponsored content, is a blog a media publication, is a freelancer the same as a journalist, is it PR - what is it?

This is the MOST important thing to understand.

Journalists do NOT cover stories because they get paid by the people that they cover.

A journalist is functioning in the interest of the public.

Restaurant critics don’t get paid by restaurants. A story can be told many ways, and we have to be careful not to do this ⬇️

Journalism is the art and science of collecting, researching and producing stories for the public interest. I cover deeptech and science stories because I believe that people should know about these technologies, and that the more we understand the less fearful we become.

For press to remain independent, there needs to be a VERY clear line on what is an advertisement, what is sponsored content and who has editorial control.

Journalists cannot give editorial control to their subjects. Interviews, final drafts, quotes, and the editorial process remains objective without influence.

This is the biggest misconception founders have on media.

This doesn’t mean that journalists are not biased!

News. Features. Opinions. Investigations.

There are lot of different types of stories. Every publication and journalist is different. Do your research so you don’t waste your time.

For example:
I am an independent video journalist.
I cover science and deeptech. 
My focus is on explanatory and data journalism.

This means that my small team spends A LOT of time developing the motion graphic explainers, and video assets to explain technology.

If you take one look at my page you will understand that I don’t do news reporting.

If you send me your funding announcement I will say a huge congratulations :) -  but will not cover it.

A few useful terms to know:

Embargo - usually funding announcements have conditional clauses. Gives you the opportunity to speak to journalists so they get all the context but they can only publish the story after a specific date / time. Make sure to discuss this ahead of time. 

Exclusive - working with only one journalist / publication on a story- usually reserved for BIG news.

Newswire - A press release publication site. This is a tool that was mostly put in place for public companies to have a way to disclose information that they need to make public. For private companies, if you publish a newswire and then try to pitch a story on the same news you might be turned down, good to have a strategy with newsworthy pieces.

What’s a good pitch?

The examples I give are assuming that the person pitching is a founder of a scinece / tech startup.

Last step (and most important): Follow up!

❌ Most common mistakes: 

Extra tip: Learn the right terminology! 

Using the right words can go a long way. Just like you will never hear a doctor refer to a patient as a client, or depending on the industry vendors and suppliers have different names and functions, take 2 seconds to learn the right terminology. 

A common example that lands in my inbox is people asking me to “collaborate”.

This might be an after-effect of the last few years of influencer style video creators.

Journalists do not collaborate on their pieces, they cover stories. Unless you are another media publication, journalist etc. you are not a collaborator in your story, you are the subject. 

If you are technical founder you have the unique ability to leverage your expertise and get quoted in articles that fall under your subject matter.

For example:

You don’t need to wait for news, make a short list of journalists that often cover your topic.

Think across mediums: audio, video, written.

Build relationships, not transactions.

My answer is obviously biased. I publish 99% of my work by social media or digital means.

So I asked one of my Harvard lecturers, who was also a long time editor of one of the most iconic newspapers in the world. He mentioned that journalism is a code of conduct. You don’t need qualifications or to carry a badge. The medium is irrelevant.

Journalism needs to remain independent and free.

Anthony Bourdain was by some one of the best food and travel journalists.

Cleo Abram and Johnny Harris started in Vox and spun out to host their own media publications video-first on Youtube.

In recent years, we have even seen citizen-journalists take over news cycles and awards, reporting from war zones or protests, where traditional press has limited access.

TikTok has even enabled an era of news creators, and online news reporters.

If we want important stories to reach everyone, we will need to make these stories accessible to everyone - and social media can be a great medium for that cause.

A founder recently told me he thought that science communication is overrated and that he only wants to do interviews around funding cycles.

While this might be an acceptable stance for someone building B2B software, this is not the right attitude for most people in deeptech.

Deeptech has the potential to touch millions if not billions of people. If you are building a technology that will be used, ingested, handled by or touch millions of people, my humble personal opinion is that the least you can do is explain what you are building.

I said something I think it’s not true, can I have a look at the interview and correct it? Getting the truth out is our common goal, before an interview piece runs a journalist will do a factcheck. Journalists will often call and send you a few lines on things that they want to make sure are 100% correct. 

You will not be able to see an interview or the final edit before it’s published as that would be considered editorial control.

What is editorial control? Can I have a look at the story before it’s published?
No. A journalist’s role is to remain skeptical and objective, they will often interview multiple sources and seek contrasting opinions before a piece makes it out.

Editorial control is any influence that changes the tone, style or content of a final piece. They cannot allow you to edit or change quotes just because you don’t like them.

What is an off the record conversation? Journalists have the unique ability to publish and quote individuals to large audiences. An off-the-record conversation is something that is not going to be distributed, it is a meeting that can help both parties explore more information and exchange ideas without having to worry about being published or quoted.

Every publication has their own standards. Politicians and business leaders are usually exempt from this privilege, while vulnerable people (i.e whistleblowers, crime victims) are usually given additional considerations.

If you don’t trust a reporter or journalist has your best interests, perhaps consider why you want to talk to them in the first place.

Is there anything you found suprising? Was this helpful to understand how earned media and journalism works? Let me know if you have any questions. I will try to publish more resources on science communications and storytelling.

Giota