Does national media coverage matter in clean economy issues?

story, which takes a critical view of EV production’s impact on people and the planet. It’s worth unpacking because it re ects several under-appreciated realities of generating attention from national media outlets. At Tigercomm, we’re often approached by people seeking PR help, wanting us to pitch national

YOU might have seen this stories. E ective corporate communications blends traditional news story generation with content marketing — a combination of both “owned” content and “earned” media.

I still get a thrill from working with journalists. It’s rewarding to identify compelling angles that match a reporter’s interest, then engage them with the patience necessary to nd the narrative that wins the reporter over. The media might be on its nancial back feet, and its role might be diminished from moving organic eyeballs to one of third-party validation. But I still love classic PR work.

That said, there are several misconceptions that clean economy companies sometimes voice that I want to address.

Unquali ed, fawning coverage from national media outlets is rare. Remember, you are “earning” attention by being interesting (versus paying for it). To be attention-worthy, your company must say interesting things – and not just about itself – or be willing to be vulnerable. What I mean by that last clause is that the national media are not our friends. Their purpose is to serve readers, not be our makeup artists. Credible national reporters have a duty to explore both the upsides and the downsides of a business story. That’s what happened with this Post story, where the reporters focus on the “human and environmental cost” of making EVs.

As a prize-winning national writer covering the utility sector told me last year, “We look for narrative stories. I need to nd the struggle, nd the tension — that’s the narrative. What is the harrowing tale I can tell?”

Any company seeking national media coverage should pursue it with eyes open to this reality: If you secure national attention, it’s not going to be fawning “placement” of your announcements.

Only the biggest, market-moving companies can generate national attention through commercial announcements. The product must almost be at a“Tesla”level product to warrant coverage by itself.

National stories require a di erent angle and approach than typical commercial announcements put onto the wire. To attract national coverage, your announcement must be either signi cant in size or a great illustration for a broader trend. Why should the mainstream media promote your product?

Remember, you are not paying them. Rather, it’s what your commercial announcements say about your sector, industry or the larger economy that can put you in contention for national media consideration.

National reporters write for a wider audience that includes your neighbor, a teacher, the postal carrier. Those journalists are charged with asking: “How does this news a ect my readers’ lives?”

National coverage validates. It cannot be relied on to drive customers or investors to you. Content is king, and ampli cation is queen.

The impact of national media coverage can be signi cant, but that requires sharing the coverage you earned directly with your target audience through ampli cation tactics.

Lots of folks come to us seeking mainstream media coverage, thinking it will help attract investors and customers by itself.

In PR terms, that’s called “organic eyeballs.” That still happens, but less so than many hope. Americans’ universal time poverty and attention scarcity have combined with the explosion of niche media to disaggregate the business information environment.

Coverage by CNBC is a wonderful dopamine rush. It makes you feel great about your company, and it provides powerful validation for what you’re doing. There will be some investors and customers who will see and possibly act on it.

But the odds of a critical mass viewing that clip on their own are low. Assume it’s up to you and your team to feed that coverage back into your owned and paid content streams to ensure your hard-won national outlet story reaches the right eyeballs.

Mature incumbents will weaponise media to tamp down the threat of disruptive new sectors. The decades of climate denial, misinformation, deceit and outright lies spread by major oil corporations like ExxonMobil have been well documented.

Energy incumbents are savvy, experienced, well-funded, and unafraid to use aggressive tactics to protect their market share. Now that renewables have become cheaper than fossil fuels, incumbents are working to prevent mainstream adoption of solar and wind.

It’s not unreasonable to assume incumbents are egging on national media to seed doubt, ask uncomfortable questions, and highlight the “underbelly” of EVs in stories like this.

All forms of energy have costs and bene ts. The bene t of clean energy far outweighs the costs, especially when we factor in climate disruption. Still, our sector must address human rights, labour concerns, critical mineral supply chains, and other important topics head on to resolve warranted complaints or else they can be weaponised to stop our growth.

National media plays an important role in our democracy and our marketplace. However, for many of our clients, there are more direct paths to get in front of the eyeballs they seek.

Traditional PR has always been an indirect support to sales teams. It still performs that function, providing credible validation. Companies can leverage such coverage in their sales decks and content streams as a part of a bigger marketing program. But for most clean economy companies, it’s unrealistic to expect national media to write a glowing review of their announcement, have a critical mass of customers or investors to see that coverage, then email you as a result.

In the end, PR remains a profession of managing imperfection in the response of media outlets to what we o er them.