Do reporters prefer an exclusive or embargo approach to pitching?

Between an exclusive and an embargo, intuitively it would seem that reporters would choose the exclusive approach.

If an exclusive arrangement is like marriage, then embargoes are playing the field, with more than one reporter getting the goods at one time. Embargoes spread the love to a select group, giving different outlets the opportunity to write a more fulsome story – often with fresh quotes – but usually concurrent with the announcement, not ahead of it.

Both exclusive and embargo approaches can support a successful rollout of a specific initiative or a survey launch. The exclusive sets the tone and drives additional coverage, while embargo stories often capture different angles.

But reporters are not unanimous in preferring the exclusive offer.

In fact, the four reporters I asked in 2015 felt the prestige was not always worth the hassle. They didn’t always feel that PR pros appreciated their intense time constraints and need for additional data or sourcing. The word “trust” came up several times. And some were skeptical that the confidential news they were getting was truly “exclusive” at all.

Based on my experience, exclusive offers can be effective and mutually beneficial for both companies and publications.

Some of our team’s best feature placements have resulted from offering reporters material under an exclusive arrangement. Data supports this. According to MuckRack’s The State of Journalism 2023 report, 76% of reporters are more likely to cover a story if offered an exclusive.

According to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report, “Exclusivity” ranked as the fourth highest priority for a journalist or editor  even above “Income.” Reporters are living up to the hype – it is truly a noble profession.

I’ve also noticed that over the past year or so, several reporters have responded to offers of an exclusive with a response along the lines of, “Happy to take a look and honor the embargo but can’t commit to an exclusive.” Neither the MuckRack nor Cision surveys covered reporter’s attitudes towards embargoes.

Do reporters prefer embargoed material, with fewer strings attached and the freedom to use the data after a certain date? Or does the offer of an exclusive win every time?

The answer is generally “it depends.”

Amanda Schiavo, a senior reporter covering the workplace, confirmed my hypothesis:

I prefer an exclusive, I haven’t dealt with too many strings when it comes to exclusives. Guess I have been lucky. Embargos are fine, except then you have a bunch of reporters publishing their stories at the same moment the embargo lifts and sometimes your article can get lost in the mix.  

Trey Williams, a senior writer covering work culture and the future of work, was in the “it depends” camp:

It’s tough to say definitively because really it depends on the study, report, survey or what have you. 

Williams elaborated that he needs time to conduct his own research and people, not data, are what make the story:

I feel like so many times I get random pitches for reports that the company or client finds interesting, that just isn’t worth a story for me. If there’s data or insights in the report that are interesting enough though, I’d prefer exclusive, but with a significant heads up. I’m not getting into all the strings attached nonsense, but typically I need the time to do some reporting around whatever the data points are. Studies and reports alone rarely make stories; people make stories. So at the end of the day, the way I typically view and use reports is supplementary to my reporting and to people stories. Being able to go to folks and say, “Hey do you have data on this?” is way more valuable often to me.

Echo Wang, a financial journalist, was also looking to examine the material before providing an assessment:

I think it depends on what kind of material it is and who [which other reporters] are being pitched.

Oliver Staley, an editor who also serves on the board of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), was on team exclusive:

Most journalists want exclusives, of course, but only if they are worth having. On occasion we are offered some tidbit of news as an exclusive but it may not rise to the level of a story we would normally write. They also can come with timelines for making a decision, in which case it can just be easier to say no when we have a lot of other things going on. 

But Staley noted that embargoes can be useful and clarified an important point – PR pros must negotiate and get agreement on terms before emailing confidential materials under embargo. In other words, unless both sides agree, there is no embargo to honor:

Embargoes are useful for leveling the playing field among outlets, particularly for a study that’s complicated or isn’t breaking news. Remember, you cannot unilaterally declare a study embargoed when you send it to a reporter. They have to agree to the terms first and are within their rights to publish whatever you send if there is no agreement in place.

So, what’s a well-meaning PR pro to do? Be clear and honest about what you’re offering a reporter. Make sure to manage client expectations by letting them know that the reporter may not write the story right away and there may be other sources quoted in the piece.

Bill C. Smith is a senior vice president at The Bliss Group in New York.