Media List and Pitch Template
A media list where no row exists without a dated, on-topic byline behind it, and the angle comes from what that piece concluded.
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Byline Evidence
One row per journalist, created from the article
| Journalist | Most recent on-topic article | Days | Angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calla LoxdaleBroker and Carrier | Quick pay is a discount wearing a different hatArgues the fee costs a carrier more than the cash-flow gain is worth | 2 | Contrary conclusion |
| Quill QuarringtonMiddle Mile Review | The broker selection process, from the cabTreats payment terms as one factor among several | 4 | Planned |
| Maeve YaxleyHaulage Weekly | The economics of paying a carrier in four daysRan the numbers and stopped short of the capacity claim | 15 | Follow-on |
| Wilhelm VerinderBroker and Carrier | Carriers want consistent freight, not faster moneyArgues capacity is won on lane consistency, not terms | 53 | Contrary conclusion |
| Vasco UttleyPayments in Transit | Exception queues are the settlement bottleneckArgues exceptions, not transfer speed, set the real clock | 151 | Planned |
What the rule did to the list
240 purchased rows, tagged for the category, checked against 180 days of bylines. 81 survived. Searching the subject’s own recent coverage found 23 writers the database had never tagged. The list is those 104 rows, and nothing else goes on it.
The conclusion field is the one people skip and the one that earns the coverage, because it decides the angle. "Argues consolidation has stalled" is a conclusion. "Covers consolidation" is a tag.
Ashcombe bought 240 media contacts, every one tagged for their category, and pitched all of them. 7 replied and 2 wrote something. Before the next announcement they checked the same 240 rows against a single test: name a piece this person wrote, on this subject, in the last 180 days. 81 rows passed. 68 still write and have moved to another beat. 37 file elsewhere but nothing at that outlet. 54 have no byline anywhere. 159 rows, 66.2%, were mail going nowhere.
The fix is a change of direction rather than a better column set. Work from articles to people, because a category tag records who covered what on the day the database was compiled, and newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008. The article does not age that way. Bylines and dates are also on the page in a readable form: author, author.url and datePublished are recommended structured-data properties, and Google asks publishers to keep those dates accurate and not in the future.
Searching Ashcombe's subject then surfaced 23 on-topic writers the database had never tagged, so the list came to 104 rows. Every one carries what that person's last piece concluded, which decides the angle. 12 of them had recently argued against the claim Ashcombe was about to make. That group replied at 41.7% and wrote 25.0% of the time: 11.5% of the list and 37.5% of the coverage. It pairs with the press release and announcement kit and share of voice analysis.
What's in the pack
Sourcing Method
Fixes the subject in a journalist's words, the byline window, what counts as a byline and what does not, before a single row gets added.
Byline Evidence
One row per journalist: the article, its URL, its date, the outlet, and one line on what the piece concluded. The conclusion decides the angle.
List Staleness Audit
Scores a bought or inherited list against the same test, splitting failures into beat changed, none at that outlet, and none anywhere.
Media List
The list itself, carrying days since the last on-topic byline as a computed number and the angle each person is assigned.
Pitch Angles
Three angles written before any mail goes out, including the per-person disagreement for anyone who has argued against the claim. The strongest angle is still a real, sourced opinion, which is what an executive's point-of-view register is built to supply instead of one invented to fit the news.
Outreach Guidance
The six-line pitch, what belongs in a subject line, which lines may be shared inside an angle group, and the one follow-up rule.
Embargo and Exclusive Terms
What an embargo has to state to be one, how an exclusive is scoped and ended, and what to do when either is broken.
Pitch Tracker
One row per journalist: the angle, the subject line actually used, the send date, what was offered, and the follow-up with what it added.
Response Log
Every outcome including the silences, whether a reply needed the follow-up, and whether a published piece was prompted by the pitch.
Campaign Review
Four questions in the order that stops each one overclaiming, ending in three decisions that each name the figure they should move.
How to use it
- 1
Install it, or take it blank
Hand the pack your current list inside River, or take the Word documents and CSV sheets away and work through them by hand.
- 2
Audit thirty rows first
If a list exists, sample it rather than rebuilding blind. Thirty rows produces a survival rate people believe, and it usually settles the argument.
- 3
Record the conclusion, not the topic
For every surviving row, write what the piece argued in a sentence that person would accept. A topic summary cannot decide an angle.
- 4
Find the group that disagrees with you
Read the conclusions for anyone who argued against your claim. Small group, highest yield, and the one no database can hand you.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes. No signup, no card, and the zip is the whole pack rather than a sample of it. Edit with AI is the other branch: send your subject and whatever list you already hold, and the agent runs the byline check against it. More packs in the template library.
What format are the downloaded files?
Ten files in one zip: five Word documents and five CSV sheets. The sheets are plain comma-separated text, so Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets all take them without an import step. Append ?format=pdf to the download link for a read-only copy if you only want to look at the shape.
How is this different from a normal media list template?
The usual template gives you a Beat column you fill in from a tag and a Notes column where a recent article is optional personalisation. Here the article is the reason the row exists. No byline, no row, and the angle is assigned from what that piece concluded rather than from outlet tier.
Does this replace a media database?
No. Use one to find candidates and verify contact details, then run every candidate through the byline test before it becomes a row. On the worked example the database was right about 81 people and wrong about 159, and it missed 23 the subject's own coverage turned up.
Four minutes a row does not scale. Why bother?
Because it scales down, which is the point. 104 rows at four minutes is 6.9 hours and produced 8 pieces, against 240 generic sends that produced 2. That is 0.9 hours per piece of coverage. A shorter list built this way costs less time in total than the long one did.
Why pitch someone who disagreed with me?
They have a public position on your subject from the last few weeks, so they are informed, currently interested and have something at stake. Ashcombe's twelve replied at 41.7% and wrote 25.0% of the time. Expect a piece that disagrees in part, and decide you can live with that first.
What does Edit with AI actually do?
It signs you up for free, drops these ten files into a private workspace, and starts by asking two things: your subject, and any list you already hold. Then it finds the recent coverage, reads the bylines and dates off it, records what each piece argued, and shows the working.
Find out how much of your list still writes about this
Download the ten files and run thirty rows through the byline test, or install the pack and let River check the list you already have.
Edit with AI