Help a Reporter Out

The following is a note from Peter Shankman about a free resource that every PR person and journalist should know about.

Sharing with you today a great resource.  You'll want to tell the PR people, marketers, publicists, editors, and journalists you work with about it too, because it's all about them and their needs. 

If you're not already using www.helpareporter.com, check it out.  It's a service much like ProfNet, but free.  It used to be on Facebook, but grew too large for it.  Once you subscribe, you receive about three (sometimes two, no more than four, ever) emails a day with reporter, editor and freelance writer queries, written so you can quickly and easily scan the topics for relevance. 

If the topics do not apply to you or your clients, just hit delete. If they do, you may contact the reporter or editor directly, as instructed.

Note that Peter Shankman, the list facilitator, is very strict about helping out these reporters.  Respond only if your information (or your client's info) is relevant and on target.  If not, you'll get bumped off the list.  Quickly.  I've seen it happen. He's a big believer in good Karma, and he's also quite funny, and tends to also include a link to a fun site, or a funny story about his day in the emails. It's a nice refreshing change from the boring, non-funny emails we usually deal with.

Reporters can post queries at www.helpareporter.com/press, and sources can sign up at www.helpareporter.com - As I said, it's free. Peter asks that if you find it useful, then you make a donation to any animal rescue charity or animal hospital.

You can forward the queries to others who are a fit, but do not post any queries (or the editor/reporter contact info) on any blogs or public websites.  I received permission from Peter to send you this note, since this is a private group and I'm helping to spread the word to both subscribers and media to sign up.

www.helpareporter.com - The more people who use it, the better it becomes.