Pitching Round Earth Media

As part of the India Network initiative, we are seeking story proposals now for several reasons. We want to see how you think. We want a sense of your writing and originality. We want to start sending media outlets story ideas so they can plan ahead. Some ideas, you will be asked to develop into full-length features. Others, we may decide are better suited to a blog posting. In both cases, we are looking for original story ideas drawn from the community where you live and work, stories that advance the understanding of India and its connection to the world.

We are asking for proposals that are well-thought-out, based on facts (never, ever assumptions), and favor specific details over generalizations. Include enough information to convince us this is a story readers will care about, one worth committing money and precious space and time to get produced.

Please limit your proposal to a page. As you draft it, consider: where is the conflict or tension, what is new or surprising, who will be interviewed, why should this story be told now? For multimedia pieces, what scenes or elements will you include, e.g., text, photos, audio, video.

Not everything needs to be an investigative blockbuster. We also want human interest pieces, fashion trend pieces, slices of humanity that point to larger humanity in the Indian world.

A well-crafted proposal is so important that we will pay for any that we decide to submit for publication or broadcast. We will pay $150 for an accepted story pitch that we will offer for sale to outside media. If we are successful in selling the story, the writer will receive 100 percent of the payment from the outside media organization. All proposals received by end of day Tuesday will receive a response by end-of-day on Friday. Submit pitches to <india@roundearthmedia.com>

Our seasoned editors are ready to work with you, honing your skills, getting your work published and/or broadcast, in our mission to build a new kind of content-generating virtual newsroom. Such mentoring relationships are core to the Round Earth Media mission to support early-career journalists and thus sustain the journalistic standards we all value.
We are eager to see what you can do, and to have you participate with us in the new Round Earth Media brand of journalism!

Here are examples of what we at Round Earth Media consider successful – and some not so successful — pitches. With thanks to Tanya Ott, Margo Melnicove, Jonathan Kern, Ken Barcus, Sean Cole, Reece Erlich, and Alisa Barba. They were pitching public radio programs but we think the basics apply to all forms of journalism.

Two pitches from Tanya Ott, same story but only one was accepted

Pitch #1 to Marketplace (turned down, saying the pitch was too long – remember short and sweet, focused and catchy!)

I’d like to do a piece on the following pegged to the New Year and resolutions about losing weight: The food industry is looking to heat up dormant sales by tapping into the country’s changing demographics and consumer attitudes. Among the major trends analysts say we’ll see in 2003:

1) More convenience. Fast food is a $111 billion a year business and traditional food marketers are trying to tap the demand for on-the-go eating by offering such yummy new products as scrambled eggs and Mac & Cheese in push-up tubes. The production of handheld foods has grown at a rate of 8 percent a year since 1995 and is expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2004. Another big focus is re- packaging foods so they can be eaten with one hand, leaving the other free to surf the web. These new packages promise no drips, spills, or sticky fingers.

2) Healthier focus. Push-up tubes with Mac & Cheese may be the anti-thesis of health foods – still, analysts say demand for healthy choices will drive many manufacturers. Studies show aging baby boomers are increasingly recognizing the link between diet and health and since boomers spend $2,600 on food away from home (more than any other group), the restaurant industry will increasingly offering menus with detailed nutritional information. Also, as DNA research becomes more advanced many food industry analysts predict we’ll see restaurant menus tailored to genetic “type” health profiles.

3) Specialized foods. Analysts say in an effort to spur sales growth, packaged food companies will increasingly customize products to reach smaller and smaller niche audiences. General Mills has tried a website where consumers are invited to develop cereals to meet their specific tastes. There are also foods now catered to specific types of jobs or hobbies… i.e. the “Caddy Bar,” a nutrition bar that claims to “increase the dopamine and acetylcholine levels within the brain, increasing mental alertness and quick thinking” for golfers.

So – this piece would include (live) interviews with food industry analysts, researchers, manufacturers and providers (i.e. restaurant owner/managers), as well as consumers – lots of consumers – reacting to the predicted “trends,” etc. The piece could include natural sound from restaurants, grocery stores, television ads, music about food/eating.

Pitch #2 – Refined and FOCUSED, NPR accepted!

Hoping to beef up sagging sales, food manufacturers are pushing more “one- handed” foods, including such tasty treats as scrambled eggs and Mac & Cheese in push-up tubes. The new marketing campaigns are a response to research that shows 1/5 of all meals are eaten in the car and half of all 10-13 year olds eat while surfing the net. Industry analysts say this trend will really heat up in 2003, even though fast food stores like MacDonald’s, etc., are having trouble making money.

This 4:00 business story would examine the trend toward handheld foods and how it contradicts a simultaneous emphasis on healthy foods among boomers. The piece would include interviews with food industry analysts, manufacturers, and consumers (child and adult).

Two successful pitches from Reese Erlich

Using Sept. 11 Funds to Aid Afghans — Day to Day 3/9/04

Derrill Bodley’s daughter died in the 9/11 plane crash in Pennsylvania. He has decided to use a substantial portion of his US government victims compensation money to help civilians injured by US bombs dropped in Afghanistan, and to help Afghan non-profit groups. I traveled with Derrill as he met with a family whose home was destroyed by US bombs, as well as sewing co-op members able to earn a living as a result of donations from US non-profits. During the journey, Derrill worked through some of the grief of his daughter’s loss and came to learn how complicated it will be to donate money in war-torn Afghanistan. This story will use little or no narration.

Recuerdos (“Remembering”) – aired July 16, 2004 Latino USA Mexican director Marcela Arteaga has created an intriguing film (Recuerdos) about the life of Luis Frank. Frank, a Lithuanian Jew, fought in the Spanish Civil War, was arrested by the Nazis in France and sent to Auschwitz, and eventually migrated to Mexico after WWII.

The film is being presented at the SF Jewish Film Festival. I’d like to file a feature for Latino USA using the film as a means to look at the lives of Mexican Jews.

I plan to interview the director and experts on Latin Jewry. I’ll include clips from the film and reactions from the Film Festival audience.

The Jewish Film Festival starts July 22nd and finishes August 9th.

A successful pitch from Sean Cole.

Young History Whiz Hopes to Cash in with Trivia ATC 8/26/04

So the other story I’ve been meaning to pitch to you is this thing I’m working on about a presidential historian named Neil McCalmont. He’s kind of a savant, can name and number all the presidents in order, tell you which years they served, which was the tallest, the shortest, fattest, which one had the biggest feet, which state yielded the most presidents, the second most, etc. He also happens to be 8- years-old. Apparently, he became curious about presidents in first grade when his teacher showed the class what money looked like. From there he Googled “US presidents” and learned all this stuff in the space of a week to a month (according to him).

The thing is his father didn’t know he knew this much about presidents until they took him on a tour of the White House and Neil started pointing at things and saying what they were. One of the security guards overheard him and started quizzing him. Neil got every question right. His father was stunned. Anyway, to make a long story short, Neil and his dad Jim McCalmont decided it would be fun to create their own board game, a kind of Trivial Pursuit of presidential history. They published it themselves and are hoping to start selling it in stores this September.

So I talked to Neil (one of the more extraordinary people I’ve ever interviewed I think) and his dad and mom. Interviewed them all separately. Then dad mom and I played the game (Neil said he was too tired). And then I called presidential historian Robert Dallek and asked him about 10 of the questions from the game on the phone. I think he got about 2 right.

Anyway I’m going to start putting this together for us. Thinking of airing it here late next week or perhaps during the convention. In any event, please let me know what you think when you get a chance. For us I’m thinking like 8 or 9 minutes but I don’t imagine it could run that long for you guys.

A successful pitch from Ken Barcus

The National Park Service is addressing concerns from Native Americans about “religious groups” “praying” at Bear Butte (National Monument) – traditional sacred site (mountain) for many Plains tribes. The religious freedom that the U.S. Supreme Court extended to American Indians in 1978 to practice traditional tribal religions at Bear Butte is now clashing with the same freedom granted to members of other religions. Native Americans who visit the site to pray are complaining about these groups – such as New Agers and Rainbow people – who they say are merely “using” the site as a campground and a location to practice religious ceremonies that “belong” to Native people. The story would explore both sides of the religious practice issue and ask who determines what a religious group is and can one group practice the religion of another. Interviews would be with Natives and non-Natives at Bear Butte as well as Natl. Park Service personnel. This issue is ongoing, but recent meetings btw the Parks Service and Native Americans have brought the issue back to the surface.

From Alisa Barba — two good pitches

Good pitch: In the old west, salesmen peddling exotic elixirs, tonics, miracle cures and gadgets traveled from town to town, set up an impromptu stage and tried to draw a crowd with their showmanship. That tradition lives on in the concessions areas of state fairs across the country as fast-talking itinerant sales artists work hard to make a quick sale to any one of the thousands that drift by their booth every day. These people have to be fast, funny, smart, sincere and above all, tireless. The parade of potential customers at the fair is relentless – 10 or 11 hours a day they walk by and these performers/sales people have to get them first to stop, then be amazed, then close a deal with at least a couple of folks in the group. They use some of the techniques we’re familiar with from late-night TV. First quoting what sounds like a reasonable price for a gadget, then offering 2 for the price of one, then announcing that the company has authorized him, only “while they last,” to offer up a bonus pair of kitchen shears to toss in the deal. Whether it’s the miracle mop, or the hand grater that protects your knuckles (“you know who makes those old style graters don’t you?” says one, “The people who make Band- Aids!”), or the incredible Mr. Sticky that picks up lint off anything, they have “remarkable” products to sell and a short time to do it in.

I’d like to explore these peoples’ skill, record their schtick, talk to them about their techniques, how they know who in a group is most likely to buy, how they feel when hours go by without a sale, how they maintain their energy, what life is like on the road for them, moving from fair to fair, trade show to trade show. The fair runs through this weekend but I don’t think a feature like this needs to be tied to THIS fair so I think the story would hold and could be run about anytime. But if anyone’s interested, I’d like to know by mid-week if possible because the best day for me to go back would be Thursday 9-19.

WHY GOOD? Piece reeks with sound possibilities, presenting a scene that’s both familiar and exotic. Reporter has done his homework about the scene, the sales and the work life, has a good idea of what he’s going to do, and when it should air.

Another good pitch: A small order of Franciscan nuns who run a ferry landing and a small general store, are leaving the island they’ve called home for 27 years.

DETAILS: The nuns have become a tourist attraction to the thousands of people who visit Washington State’s San Juan islands each year. They also provide a vital state service by operating the ferry ramp/landing on Shaw Island. It’s not clear yet why they’re leaving, but it’s likely because most of the nuns are very old and need to be near medical facilities – this is a common story among all elderly who live on islands. The move also casts a light on a way of religious life that’s nearly gone – this is a sunset moment.

TIMING: It’s not clear exactly WHEN they’re leaving. I’m thinking November or early December. I think the best time to do the story would be during their last week. Also, the nuns lead a very secluded life. I would like the time to find an island resident or other Catholic liaison who can be a bridge builder so as to get good tape.

WHY GOOD? Focused, clear, straightforward and SHORT!!!