Media Insights: Q&A with NBC10 Boston Anchor & Reporter Jeff Saperstone

What makes journalists tick and what’s the best way to interact with them to share a client’s news? Understanding the answers to these questions and the most effective ways to communicate with journalists can be key to securing coverage for a client. But, as any good PR pro knows, reporters are not a monolith – while journalists have their own personal preferences on their preferred modes of communications, one big difference that dictates pitching strategy is the medium for which they are reporting.  

For this latest installment of Making Moments, we sit down with NBC10 Boston Anchor & Reporter Jeff Saperstone. At NBC10 Boston, Jeff covers local and national news, including major events such as the Patriots last trip to the Super Bowl in 2019 and the Boston Marathon, as well as national news including Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S. and the indictment of former President Trump in Miami.

In the following Q&A, Jeff shares his expertise for a look inside the mind of a TV news reporter and his advice for PR professionals who are looking to land stories in TV for their clients.

Tell me a bit about your background, what led you to TV news, and what inspired you to join the industry?

I’ve always wanted to be in TV news. Back when I was 16, I remember doing newscasts in my parents’ basement and getting creative with the minimal technology we had back then compared to what’s available now – there are a lot of VHS tapes from those early days.

But, I’ve always had curiosity with what is going on in the world and what’s going on in current events. That curiosity spilled over into me thinking that I could do this on TV, which I also like, and the technology, speaking through the camera, figuring out different kinds of media to play with, and it all came together.  

Then, once I got to college, I melded everything – between journalism classes and TV production classes. A lightbulb went off, and I thought, oh, I can do this for a living.

What kinds of pitches do you like to receive?

First and foremost, it has to be something that piques my curiosity, because if I think I’m curious about it, then viewers are probably curious about it as well.  

I tend to gravitate towards more visual things because I work in TV, which is a visual medium. A pitch that a PR professional sends to a newspaper is going to be different than one that’s sent to television.  

Are there any practices/methods that make you more open to pitches?

With specific pitches, I tend to like when someone reaches out to me directly. The blanket press release pitches are kind of impersonal. Even if someone texts me or calls me and says “hey, I just sent over this release, but I think you specifically would be good for this story.” Then, it’s on my radar. Otherwise, a lot of these things probably get lost in the email shuffle. I find a text, even more than an email, will get my attention a lot of the time.

Even if the PR representative doesn’t know me personally, a specific, personal pitch is always going to be better.  

What time of day is best for you to be pitched?

I work the early morning shift, and I prefer to receive pitches while I’m at work. First thing in the morning – 8am, because I always check my email then. Even if I’m not at work, I always check more in the morning. Unless it’s happening in the afternoon and you need to get it to me right away, I find the morning sets the table for the day.

What elements are you looking for in a story when you read a pitch?

The shorter the pitch, the better. If you can pitch like an elevator pitch format, if you can make your pitch read almost like a TV script – short, quick and to the point. I think the best pitches almost write like a TV story – the best thing is right off the top, almost sell it to me right away.  

I also think if there is a topical element in the news happening and you know we’re looking for a specific type of expert, that’s always helpful too.  

To recap – timely news topics, short and sweet pitches, especially for TV folks that are visually-minded and like things that are easy to digest.

Being in a local TV station, how much emphasis do you put on needing local experts for a story?

Before the pandemic and the rise in the use of Zoom, we would have been strictly local for experts. But now, if there’s an expert who’s out of the area but could be a good fit to speak about the news of the day, we are more open to it, because Zoom is more accepted and Zoom interviews are more commonplace on TV. As long as we disclose that, I think it’s okay. There are caveats of course, not all the time, we’re always going to try to lean local, but it’s okay to pitch experts are not local now.

How has the news business changed since you first started as a reporter?

Everything is more instantaneous now. So, the pitches have to be super immediate – within a day or two of the event. The news cycle changes so fast, unless, there’s a big project that’s ongoing. The news cycle is so much faster with digital media, social media and so much else now, relevant, timely pitches are the best.

When I started in TV, there was no social media and barely any cell phones, and then everything just changed.

What factors do you use to determine if the expert included in a pitch is worth an interview?

Newsworthy pitches. We all get a lot of emails, and sometimes it’s hard to parse out what’s a local PR pitch versus a national PR pitch. If local stands out in the pitch, and we see a local phone number in the person’s email signature, we’re more apt to accept the pitch.

Do you have any advice for PR professionals who are looking to pitch TV?

For TV specifically, the pitch has to be about the visual, it has to be about something that TV will be interested in, because it’s a different pitch than you would send to a newspaper, which doesn’t necessarily need all the visuals.  

A short, concise pitch is always nice for TV folks because we always like to be brief in everything.

It’s key for PR professionals to pay attention to what’s going on in the news, in the world and what the big stories are and making their pitches specifically based off those big stories of the day.

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