Newsweek
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Newsweek is a sophisticated source of news and information for about 19 million readers a week - not to mention a dream placement for PR pros everywhere. Readers tend to be
well educated and have a relatively high median income of $61,847 a year.
This April, the magazine will re-launch its Focus section with retooled coverage of personal services. The new three- to five-page section will function "basically as a
newsletter within the larger magazine," says Assistant Managing Editor Kathy Deveny. Like its predecessor, the section will concentrate on four core areas of coverage: health,
technology, money and travel. But the beauty of the new section, especially from a PR professional's point of view, will be that the editors will "pick up any other item floating
around in the Zeitgeist as long as it has relevance to our reader."
Content/Contacts
Every week the section will feature one longer lead story on one of its core focus areas, followed by 18-20 smaller items. "We own Budget Travel, so we may pick up some
editorial from Budget Travel and re-purpose it as a short graphic on three Caribbean budget vacations. We'll do personality things on someone in the news like Nigella Lawson [the
fun and funky chef who's taking the media by storm], a person everyone is talking about. It may not be service to the extent that we're telling readers to buy something or not,
but it will be things to make them feel like smarter consumers."
Deveny and Kate Stroup will be the primary editorial contacts for the section. Email them at [email protected] and [email protected].
Pitch Tips
Deveny and Stroup prefer email pitches that offer them news they can use for consumers. Don't send them something that's been covered in every media outlet on the planet. "It
has to be topical and fresh. This is Newsweek," Deveny says.
Before clicking the send button, give careful consideration to whether your pitch fits the editorial purpose: Does it offer something of value to consumers? "It could be just a
cool new kitchen gadget," Deveny says. "It has to be in the news, and it really has to be aimed at our readers - consumers." Deveny has already been deluged with useless b-to-b
pitches for the new section.
Finally, don't follow up with a phone call. "If I were interested, I would call you," she says.
Comments
Weekly deadlines mean Deveny and Stroup will need a constant pool of items from which to pull. Because they're reporting and writing so many small items, they prefer a good
chunk of lead time - 10 days before the Friday deadline. "Ten days would be ideal, but we can turn things around in a day if there's something in the news," Deveny says.
Even if you pitch well ahead of their deadline, don't expect a full-page feature. "The items will be very short; it'll be kind of a bookend to the Periscope section in the
front of the book," Deveny warns.
In The Pipeline
Because the Focus section will cover newsy items, Deveny doesn't have a set editorial calendar planned. She emphasizes breadth of coverage, however: "If we were doing it today,
we might get the nannies who wrote The Nanny Diaries. Or it could be an important bill in Washington. It won't be frivolous, but it doesn't have to be earth-shaking news."
Health coverage has always scored high with readers in the past, so the editors will continue to offer medical information, whether they're digesting a study on mammography and
telling women what questions they should really ask their doctors or offering information on teen drinking.