750 RIdder Park Drive
San Jose, Calif. 95190-0001; Phone: 408/920-5444
Editor's Note: With a daily circulation of 287,275 and a Sunday circulation of 347,275, the San Jose Mercury News, owned by Knight-Ridder, is worth having on your side. But this is a newspaper that's driven by the region where it's headquartered. Editors and reporters are looking for news that ties in with what's taking place politically, economically, culturally and regionally in California and neighboring regions. Most of your plugs, unless they are likely to spark national interest, better have that geographic link.
| Sections | Editors | Days to Contact/ Days to Avoid | Methods | Comments |
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Business What's covered is news under these categories: workplace; small business; venture capital; and economy. Keep in mind that because of the newspaper's proximity to the West Coast technology corridor, it's likely that news will be diced with some sort of cutting-edge or progressive spin. Timeliness and foresightedness are a must. |
Assistant Business Editor Elisabeth Rubinfien Phone: 408/920-5019, Fax: 408/920-5917 E-mail: [email protected] |
If you must call, do so in the morning since afternoons are extremely hectic. After 3 p.m., it's tough to avoid getting voicemail. Business and technology stories are wrapped up by 8 p.m. |
Rubinfien pays more attention to faxes but will also consider pitches, releases, backgrounders and press kits that are mailed or sent by e-mail. |
Part of what Rubinfien does on a daily basis is funnel press releases and story ideas to other staffers - so you should realize that there's likely to be more than one pair of eyes looking at what you send. Business editors and reporters are looking for news that exposes business trends and market movement, and it's rare they'll give a new product a lot of play. Rubinfien says that PR specialists "need to know the local situation and that we're in a boom economy" - so it's likely, for instance, that a market research study about job layoffs isn't going to hold a lot of appeal. |
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Technology Here are the parameters of what's covered on the technology front: software components; computer companies; Internet-related businesses and entrepreneurial endeavors; and trends in the marketplace. |
Technology Assistant Editors Bert Robinson E-mail: [email protected] Evelyn Richards E-mail: [email protected] |
Thursdays, by far, are the worst days to try to reach either one in this techie duo - unless, it's a call or tip about a breaking story. (But you better have a darn good reason if you decide you want to use Ma Bell, versus e-mail, to reach these journalists.) |
Here's the scoop on trying to get Robinson or Richards on the phone: don't count on it. These two editors aren't keen about having what they see as forced contact with PR professionals. Part of that's tied to the fact that they have to cover the ever-changing technology marketplace - and because it's impossible for them to try to answer (or even respond) to the dozens of PR calls they get every week. | Richards wants news that's e-mailed to her with a lead time of several days. "About 1 percent of what I get [from PR folks] is useful," she said. Robinson advised: "Try to come to the point quickly - I don't have time to read every release I get in its entirety so it better be clear in the beginning." Robinson's mostly interested in your business perspective if you're able to back it up with objective research, data or other market indicators. He's looking for technology news that can be analyzed and pursued for its effect and not its innovation. |