People power the best broadcast pitches says Jack Leather at Channel 5 News

Channel 5 News wants people at the heart of all of its stories says Jack Leather, digital editor, when asked what makes a good story and a good pitch to broadcasters.

He added, talking specifically about digital content, that he wanted people to feel an emotion – whether it was joy or anger, say – when watching a Channel 5 News video online.

Leather was talking at Good Broadcast’s event this morning about reaching ‘younger audiences’ with broadcast content and his colleague Jess Bulman, deputy editor of Channel 5 News said both people and case studies helped tell the story.

Bulman added that the key to success with a pitch was understanding the detail of your story: ‘No matter what your story is, understand what you are pitching. The detail of the story is important when pitching to us.’

Unfortunately, PRs pitching in to the Channel 5 team don’t always know the details of the story or are able to answer follow-up questions, she explained.

Chris Smith, presenter, BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, joined them on the Good Broadcast panel and said the way to get your message across to younger listeners was simple: ‘You just have to be authentic!’ Younger listeners have a ‘very keen nose’ for anything that doesn’t ring true, he added.

His advice for pitching to journalists was for PRs to do their homework and know who they want to pitch to. ‘Know who you are picking up the phone and asking for when you call.’

Phil Caplin, director of Good Broadcast, stressed at the start of the event that the key to broadcast success was to focus on quality not quantity in terms of content and reach in campaigns.

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