NicheKnot - where news niches knot into the big picture: After Haro: a journalist spills on what happens to your HARO response

by Pam Baker, veteran freelance journalist

Mainstream media is dying. Or, so I hear. If it is, I don't notice. Assignments are flowing, deadlines looming and HARO responses are flooding in. Peter Shankman is prospering, corporate America is clamoring and I am furiously writing. On average there are 35-40 responses to my HARO requests; only 3-7 are needed for any given story. Here's how I choose which sources make it to my article -- and what I do with the leftovers.

While publisher need for freelance content is at a new high, pay is at an all-time low. The recession has forced me to work twice as hard and twice as fast just to break even. I have to go into overdrive to make any real dough. Time is money and time has sped up. There isn’t a second to spare.

The most HARO responses I have received on a single request is 147: for a story I was writing on social media. The least was 16: for a story I was writing on health care. I have to use a minimum of three unrelated sources in any given story and no more than nine (such are the rules of journalism; the total number used is directly related to the length of the story).

A phone interview (of any depth) takes at least eight minutes (if I’m rude and rush the interviewee). But, I can never get it done in eight minutes because interviews rarely start on time and I have to push past all the pat answers, sales pitches, product pushes, and positioning statements before I can get to the core nuggets that make a great story. At the volume I write, there’s no time for three such phone calls per story, much less 147 of them.

So I ask for email responses to my HARO requests. This speeds the process and ensures accuracy in my reporting – working this fast swings the door to the Error Room wide, freakin’ open. Email interview answers are an incredibly effective doorstop.

I read every single HARO response that I receive. They then go to two files and a database. Those I’ll use in the story at hand go in one file; the rest go in a second file for use in related stories over the next 30 days. They ALL go in my source database for consideration in stories that I’ll write beyond the 30 day window. Well, almost all of them anyway. First, I have to sort the wheat from the chaff.

The elimination round.

Any HARO responder that offers to write the story for me: DELETE. All that are off topic: DELETE. Obvious nutcases: DELETE. Any that merely are a cut & paste of web site copy, blogs, previously published articles or original manuscripts: DELETE. Any that offer a phone interview after I specifically requested full comments be emailed to me: DELETE (with the rare exception of a truly unique source which I will react to accordingly, but for the most part I simply don’t have time to chat, so the email is deleted… though I may move the source to the database for a future story in the hopes that I may have time then).

Who makes the cut

I look for responses that are conversational, not robotic, over- thought or chockfull of legalese. I look for valuable info and insights and skip propaganda or product pitches. Speak in terms of your industry not your product. Unless I’m doing a product review, I’m never going to advertise or endorse your product. Accept that fact of journalism. Make your answers relevant to your industry and the question(s) posed. Put your product and company info in a boilerplate paragraph beneath your answers. In the off chance I think your product is relevant to the story, I’ll pull the info from your boilerplate.

Next, I’ll read all the emails for a consensus and I’ll note contrarian views. Then I’ll narrow by relevance and look for the quotes with the most power in the punch (if your quote rambles, you’re probably not gonna make the cut as someone who can get to the point with pizzazz is much more likely to take the slot).

Then I’ll weigh those responses based on the authority of the speaker. The more integrity and authority the responder has, the more likely I am to use the quote. This does NOT mean I will only use responders from big corporations. Reader value tops corporate might every single time.

Lastly, I will verify the source and the material and follow-up with a phone call as needed.

Then, I write the story.

The extra benefit for HARO responders

I’m aware that you went to an awful lot of trouble to respond to my HARO request. I don’t take your efforts lightly. That’s why I make the extra effort to use your information in other articles if you didn’t make the cut for this one (and you or your client had something brilliant to say about the matter).

Sometimes that comes as a surprise to many of you. I often get emails praising my articles but asking when I interviewed the client (the fear I ran around PR is palpable in these emails). When I email a copy of the HARO response, PR folk inevitably say “Oh, I remember, I just didn’t put it together that Pam Baker at xxx publication online is the same Pam Baker at xyz magazine.”

I have been freelancing for over 15 years. I think that’s ample time to connect the dots. But even if you don’t make the connection between this HARO response and the story you’ll see in a different publication next month with my byline, rest assured I did. I have nothing but respect for your work and your efforts in answering my HARO requests. Thank you for being there for me!

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July 13, 2009

After Haro: a journalist spills on what happens to your HARO response

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