I wrote recently about pitching to the media, and I thought I’d share two examples of how not to approach journalists which have been shared with me by a couple of editors here in the Gulf.

The first is from a local company in the UAE. Written by a former editor (who should know better), the message ticks off the media for not running the release the day before. Is this really going to get your news published? The short answer is most likely not.

Telling off the media isn’t the best approach to getting your news published

The second pitch is more brief, but just as useless, in that it doesn’t tell the journalist anything. Instead, it almost shouts we’re here so publish something. For a pitch about a fashion collection, so much more could have been done particularly around visuals, to get the news published.

Yes, this is the pitch.

Pitching to journalists isn’t the easiest of things to do – they’re a difficult bunch at the best of times (and I’m including myself in that description as well). However, a well-crafted pitch explaining the news and why it’s beneficial to the journalist’s readers will go a long way to help you achieving your goal of publishing your news.

And to show that journalists also get it wrong, have a look at this piece highlighted by The Media Network.

The Daily Telegraph, published in Sydney by News Corp Australia, has made an embarrassing editorial blunder, by running a headline stating that Australian bombing raids killed dozens of terrorists in the UAE, according to the newspaper’s online platform.

While the story referred to bombings in Iraq – in which Australia’s super hornets conducted a total of 43 flights over the country since becoming operational almost two weeks ago – the prominent headline told a different story.

The headline has since been amended to citing the Middle East instead of the UAE, though the original URL remains.