In 2000, when I began working a four-year stretch as a freelance reporter for Time magazine’s Chicago bureau, I was amused by the speed with which sources returned my calls.
If I had called those same people less than a year earlier, toward the end of my eight-year stint at a relatively small daily newspaper (see my newspaper photo, circa 1998), the response rate would not have been nearly the same.
Back then, sources could pretty well gauge the reach and clout of a given media outlet and respond–or not–accordingly. Nowadays, as communication channels have expanded exponentially, the landscape has changed. Today’s media titan may well be on the outs tomorrow, and vice versa.
This presents a major opportunity for any professional communicator, whether they wear the hat of blogger, journalist, publicist or beyond, to jump into the fray and distinguish themselves as a first-class story-teller.
That is something that will never go out of vogue–the ability to tell stories in a clear, engaging way that informs and/or entertains your audience.
