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"How to Successfully Pitch Chicago’s
Top Columnists"
(Sept. 17 2002 PCC Monthly Luncheon)
Message From Chicago Columnists: If You Don’t Read
Us…Don't Call Us
By David Brimm
PCC Co-President
The largest crowd in five years
attended the September meeting of the Publicity Club
of Chicago September 2002 meeting at Magianno’s, which
featured a panel of Chicago’s top print columnists.
Their message was very clear: “Read my column or don’t
call me.”
The session, moderated by Karen
Hand, host of “The Karen Hand & Dr. Kelly Show,” lead
to a lively discussion with panel members: Rob Feder
(Chicago Sun-Times), Eric Zorn (Chicago Tribune),
David Zivan (Chicago magazine) and Stella Foster
(Chicago Sun-Times). Stella deserves special thanks
for keeping her commitment to PCC because her mother
was buried the day before, but she decided to “stick
with the team.”
“Your job is to generate positive
PR for your clients. My job is to cover my beat and
write a thorough column. Very often, PR people’s
intentions and my intentions just don’t coincide,”
admitted Rob Feder, television and radio columnist for
the Chicago Sun-Times since 1980. He admonished PR
people “not to succumb to the pressures imposed by
your clients to get coverage. If it’s not right for
me, don’t pitch it. Know to whom you are pitching and
the types of columns I write.”
Feder also asked that PR people
respect his time pressures and that pitches be as
efficient as possible, giving the maximum information
in the shortest span of time. That means not wasting
time with formalities. “Just get to the point.”
Eric Zorn, Tribune columnist, also
has been writing for his newspaper since 1980. He
advised PR people to do their homework. “I appreciate
personal pitches that demonstrate that you’ve read my
column and know what kind of stories I write about,”
he said. Zorn likes exclusives and rarely uses press
releases as the basis for his column. “Don’t send a
press release with a big story. If everyone has the
story, I’m probably not going to be that interested.”
Zorn prefers to be contacted via
telephone or email. If you send email, don’t send
attachments. Imbed the information within the
document. He also recognizes that PR people can’t
pitch an exclusive story and wait forever to see if a
columnist will use it. He prefers to be given a news
story idea accompanied by copy such as: “This is yours
first until noon tomorrow. If I don’t hear back from
you by then, I’ll assume you aren’t interested.” Zorn
hates teasers (“I’ve got a story you’ll like, so call
me right back.”). Just tell him the story in as few
words as possible. He also noted that you don’t have
to have a long-standing relationship with him to
become a good source. “Relationships are often built
on one good tip.”
Chicago magazine’s David Zivan, a
senior editor since 1998, drew laughter from the crowd
when he said: “I love exclusives, as long as I can
have them for about two and one-half months.” Zivan
said that since he can’t compete with dailies on the
timeliness of his stories, he prefers to find a niche
within a bigger story, so that he can bring a fresh
perspective to the story that other reporters won’t
have. While he reported that the transition from being
independent to being part of the Tribune conglomerate
has been positive, he predicted that changes will be
coming, especially within restaurant and food
coverage, where Chicago magazine has staked out a
long-held niche. “Look for things to happen within the
next two-to-three months.”
Stella Foster, a contributing
columnist to the Sun-Times “Kup’s Column” (which is
the longest running daily newspaper column in the
U.S., having started in 1943) made it clear that the
column is looking for exclusives. “Our column is based
on exclusivity. Don’t double pitch an item. If you
tell me it’s an exclusive, it had better be an
exclusive.” She advised PR people to clearly mark an
item sent via email as “EXCLUSIVE” and include a time
frame for the item’s exclusivity (ie. “You can have it
exclusively until Wednesday.”). Stella noted that
Kup’s column is using fewer celebrity birthday items
because most of them are for celebrities long out of
the limelight. So she is setting out to have the
column reach younger readers and is including news
about rock stars and rappers. “Let’s face it, why
should we honor the birthdays of celebrities? They
don’t buy our paper!”
Timing Is Everything:
Bob Green Reaction
Just as timing is everything for
trying to get coverage in a column, the resignation of
Bob Greene from the Tribune (just days prior to the
PCC luncheon) also was a timely event that just
couldn’t be ignored at the PCC meeting. So Karen Hand
(a former news director) took the offensive and asked
the panel to remark about the resignation. Here are
some responses:
Robert Feder
“As a fellow Medill School (of
Journalism) graduate, Bob Greene was a role model for
many of us. When he was at the Sun-Times (before
moving to the Tribune) he made that paper worth
reading. I am saddened and shocked to read about his
newspaper career being over. But if any good has come
out of this, it’s that it has generated a debate about
issues that don’t normally get covered. It’s about
ethics and whether someone’s private life deserves to
be kept private. It also begs the question: What is
the obligation of an employer to monitor the private
lives of employees? The Tribune should be recognized
for being forthcoming. Full disclosure is always the
best path to follow.”
Eric Zorn
“On the Saturday night before the
formal announcement hit the wires, we had heard about
the rumors about his resignation. It was a very tough
decision but I have enormous respect for the Tribune
and for the people that made the ultimate decision.
Ann Marie Lipinski deserves a lot of credit for taking
a straight ethical approach. While no one disagrees
that Bob’s actions merited some type of punishment,
many of us thought that censure would be punishment
enough since the event happened so long ago. But when
the decision was made, it was backed by the Tribune. “
David Zivan
“I didn’t know Bob Greene well,
but I have a lot of sympathy for him. He’s done some
great work, so it’s sad to see that his career in
newspapers is probably over. I doubt if he will ever
again be given a prominent column.”
Stella Foster
“Guys need to control their pants,
especially when it comes to taking advantage of a
teenager. Role models need to be more careful and act
in a forthright way. Despite the end of Bob’s
newspaper career, I know he’ll probably keep writing.
We’re not going to see him selling StreetWise anytime
soon.”
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