Newsjacking: How to Get Quoted in Major Media Without a Press Release
A journalist writing about today's interest rate decision doesn't need another news story. They need an expert voice who can interpret what it means. If you can be that voice — quickly — you get quoted.
Newsjacking is the practice of attaching your expertise to a story that's already being written. You're not asking a journalist to cover your company. You're helping them cover something they're already working on — and making their story better in the process.
It's the fastest path to earned media coverage for a founder without a major announcement. One well-timed comment, drafted in 20 minutes, can land you in a major publication.
What a spokesperson comment actually is
A reactive comment is a specific content format. It's not a press release. It's not a pitch email. It's 2–3 short paragraphs of attributed commentary — your name, your title, and your interpretation of a news event. That's it.
Paragraph 1: Acknowledge the event and immediately interpret it. Not "today's data was released" — the journalist already knows that. Instead, what does it mean? "Today's figures confirm what businesses have been feeling for months — costs are rising faster than their ability to pass them on."
Paragraph 2: Name a specific consequence for your audience. Who is affected, how, and why does it matter right now? This is where your expertise earns the quote.
Paragraph 3 (optional): A forward-looking statement. What happens next? What should people watch? Commit to a view — hedging ("this may potentially suggest...") produces nothing worth quoting.
What a bad comment looks like
Delete your draft if it does any of these: restates the news without interpreting it, makes a generic observation ("this is a trend businesses should monitor"), plugs your product in any way, or hedges every sentence. A journalist who receives a comment that says nothing specific will not use it.
The pitch email
Subject: [Topic] — spokesperson comment
Hi [journalist name],
Following today's [event], [your name], [title] at [company], says:
"[Your 2–3 paragraph comment, pasted here]"
Available for interview today.
[Name]
[Phone number]
That's the entire email. No company background. No preamble. No "I hope this finds you well." Just the comment, your availability, and your phone number. Put your phone number in — for reactive commentary, a journalist may want to call you for a follow-up quote, and if your number isn't there, they'll use someone else's comment instead.
How to find the opportunities
You don't need to monitor the news constantly. Build a simple 90-day calendar of predictable events — interest rate decisions, major data releases, regulatory reviews, industry award cycles — and prepare draft comments for the ones most relevant to your business. Leave gaps for the actual outcomes. On the day, fill in the blank, adjust the framing based on whether the result was higher or lower than expected, and send before lunch.
For unpredictable events, a Monday morning scan of the publication you most want to be covered in will surface reactive opportunities more than often enough. Read today's headlines. If there's a story in your sector you can speak to with genuine expertise, that's your window.
Draft your first reactive comment
- Find a story in today's news that's relevant to your business or sector.
- Write a 2–3 paragraph comment as if you were going to send it right now.
- Read it back: does it say something a journalist couldn't Google? Does it name a specific consequence? Does it sound like you actually said it?
- Identify the 3 journalists on your media list most likely to be covering this story.
- Draft the pitch email using the template above.
Don't send it yet if you're still building your media list — but completing this exercise will show you how fast reactive PR can actually move when you're prepared.