Dateline NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, N.Y. 10112
Phone: 212/664-7501
- Editor's Note: Dateline will likely be one of the most difficult editorial operations you'll ever seek to influence because of the number of producers and staffers - around 300 - who work on the program and because of the volume of pitches it receives daily. Your attempt will be just one in a theater of hundreds.
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General News Through the years, Dateline has covered a variety of issues - new businesses, legal controversies, celebrity stories, medical breakthroughs and healthcare debates - but all have that investigative tone. |
Executive Producer: Neal Shapiro Phone: 212/664-7501 Fax: 212/664-7864 Media Relations Director: |
Most pitches go directly to Shapiro's office where staffers begin the process of deciding whether the story has merit. Remember, sometimes stories are worked on several months before they run. The show airs - in various markets - on either Sunday, Tuesday or Friday so don't call or fax a pitch on those days. | Producers at Dateline prefer faxes. And those execs and their staffers want those faxes to be no more than one page. Also, if you're pitching a story that's time sensitive, be sure that it's something producers/reporters will be able to pursue in depth. Otherwise, you're wasting their time - and yours. | The kind of journalism churned out by large media operations like Dateline is difficult for most to fathom. Because of the sensitivity of so many of the issues the show focuses on -and the legalities surrounding their investigative pieces - your PR pitch will be scrutinized with a kind of intensity you're not likely to experience every day. In short, you better be an expert. |
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Bureau News Atlanta: 404/881-0154 Burbank: 818/840-3459 Chicago: 312/836-5566 Dallas: 214/871-7373 Denver: 303/831-4444 Miami: 305/379-4444 D.C.: 202/885-4231 |
Executive Producer: Neal Shapiro Phone: 212/664-7501 Fax: 212/664-7864 Media Relations Director: |
It's rare that a pitch is welcomed on "crunch" days when the show airs; however, meetings are held daily to discuss the merit and development of particular stories so there's never really a "slow day." For stories with a regional twist, call the bureaus listed and they'll tell you how to proceed with your plug. | If you decide to send your pitch to the media relations department instead of to Shapiro's office, it still needs to be a fax. Dateline newshounds "discourage" calls unless they're really, really, really necessary. (You get the picture.) Nonetheless, everything is filtered through the New York office. | Dateline is one of the few news operations we've found which places part of the responsibility for deciding the value of a PR pitch on professionals who handle its media relations. In fact, these practitioners don't just promote and market Dateline - they're an intrinsic part of the editorial process. Truly, in many cases, they're the gatekeepers to the info. producers are finally handed. |