Press — Complete Media Intelligence System

What This Skill Does

Most press releases are never covered. Most media pitches are never answered. Not because
the stories are not real, but because the people sending them do not understand how journalism
works — what makes a story, what a journalist needs, and what separates the pitches that get
opened from the hundreds that do not.

This skill teaches that. Then it does the work.

Core Principle

Journalists are not your marketing channel. They are professionals serving their audience.
The pitch that succeeds is the one that makes their job easier by delivering a genuine story
their readers will care about. Everything else is noise.

Workflow

Step 1: Assess the PR Scenario

Step 2: Story Development

The most important PR skill is identifying what is actually a story. Most organizations
think everything they do is newsworthy. Almost none of it is.
CODEBLOCK1

Step 3: Press Release Architecture

Step 4: Media Pitch

Step 5: Crisis Communications

CRISIS_FRAMEWORK = {
  "first_hour": {
    "principle": "Speed matters more than perfection. Silence is interpreted as guilt.",
    "actions": [
      "Establish the facts — what actually happened",
      "Identify who is affected and how",
      "Issue holding statement within 1 hour",
      "Designate single spokesperson — only one person speaks",
      "Do not speculate — only state confirmed facts"
    ]
  },

  "holding_statement": {
    "purpose":   "Acknowledges situation, shows you are taking it seriously,
                  buys time for full response",
    "template":  "We are aware of [situation]. The safety and [wellbeing/interests] of
                  [affected parties] is our immediate priority. We are [specific action
                  being taken] and will provide an update by [specific time].",
    "rules":     ["Never say 'no comment'",
                  "Never speculate about cause",
                  "Never minimize before facts are established",
                  "Never attack the person who raised the issue"]
  },

  "full_response_structure": {
    "acknowledge": "What happened, stated factually without minimizing",
    "accountability": "Accept responsibility for what is yours to own",
    "action":      "Specific steps being taken — not vague commitments",
    "timeline":    "When each action will be complete",
    "contact":     "How affected parties can reach you directly"
  },

  "what_makes_crises_worse": [
    "Denying before investigating",
    "Multiple conflicting statements from different people",
    "Legal language that reads as evasion",
    "Attacking journalists or critics",
    "Inconsistency between statement and observable action"
  ]
}

Media List Building

MEDIA_LIST_FRAMEWORK = {
  "targeting_criteria": [
    "Outlet audience matches your target customer or stakeholder",
    "Outlet has covered similar stories in the last 12 months",
    "Specific journalist covers your beat or topic area",
    "Outlet size appropriate for your story scale"
  ],

  "list_tiers": {
    "tier_1": "Dream coverage — national outlets, major trade press. Pitch first.",
    "tier_2": "Strong coverage — regional outlets, vertical trade press. Pitch simultaneously.",
    "tier_3": "Supporting coverage — blogs, podcasts, local press. Pitch after tier 1-2."
  },

  "relationship_building": [
    "Engage with journalist content before you need them",
    "Provide useful information even when you have nothing to announce",
    "Be a reliable source — fast responses, accurate information",
    "Never pitch a journalist on a story they just published on a competitor"
  ]
}

Quality Check Before Delivering

• - [ ] Story angle is genuinely newsworthy — passes the reader interest test
• [ ] Press release headline says what happened in under 10 words
• [ ] First paragraph contains the complete story
• [ ] Quotes sound like humans not press releases
• [ ] Pitch subject line is the story not the announcement
• [ ] Media list is targeted not spray-and-pray
• [ ] Crisis response acknowledges, takes responsibility, specifies action
• [ ] Single spokesperson identified for any crisis scenario