Correspondent for "The Globe and Mail" Eric Reguly Shares Insights with JCU Students

From left: Eric Reguly, Prof. Favorite, and Francesca Mirabile

Eric Reguly, European Bureau Chief for The Globe and Mail, the Canadian daily, spoke to John Cabot students about “How to Pitch a Story to the Media.” Entertaining, knowledgeable, and engaging, Mr. Reguly provided insights on how journalists develop an interest in a story and write about it. Starting from the press release (“grab my attention with the first 10 words”) to fast and easy access to senior company officials, journalists privilege information that is given to them quickly and efficiently. Mr. Reguly provided and commented on several examples of press releases and press alerts.

Understanding how to cater to journalists’ needs requires an understanding of how quickly and drastically their work is changing. Strained by having to meet multiple deadlines daily to providing content across different media (print, twitter, web) at the same time, journalists are ever more pressed to produce a seemingly uninterrupted flow of news. Anyone trying to pitch them a story needs to keep this in mind.

The financial crisis has further eroded the credibility of corporations -and especially of the financial industry- in the eyes of the media. Hence, gaining the media’s trust has become increasingly difficult. Trust, as Mr. Reguly explained, is at the heart of any effective relationship with a journalist. He offered practical advice on how to develop and keep that trust.

The discussion also addressed the ethics of journalism and differences in North American practices vs. those in other parts of the world.

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