Editor's Insight: Charlotte Tobitt on pitches, AI and the future of media

I caught up with Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette to talk about what editors want (and what they don’t).

For the next edition of insight direct from professional editors, I spoke to Charlotte Tobitt on pitches, AI and the future of media.

And don’t forget that you can find previous Q&As with editors right here—completely free to read!

If you are an editor, or know an editor who might be interested in taking part in this series, please feel free to email me at thefreelancewritingnetwork@gmail.com or message me on Substack for further details.

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Charlotte Tobitt on pitches, AI, and the future of media

Charlotte Tobitt is UK editor at Press Gazette, where she has covered the media industry since February 2018. Before that she started out in local news on the Surrey Advertiser/Surrey Live.

You can find Charlotte on LinkedIn and read her work at pressgazette.co.uk.

Can you tell us a bit about your role at Press Gazette and the kind of stories you work on day-to-day?

My role at Press Gazette is UK editor, which basically means leading our day-to-day editorial output. We’re a small team, with only three people on editorial, which means I write a lot myself, as well as editing others on the team and freelancers.

Press Gazette’s remit these days largely covers the business of media, the challenges facing the industry, new strategies, and what’s working and what’s not. This can cover interviews with editors and CEOs, reporting on a round of journalism redundancies, or looking at how Google/ChatGPT and changing audience behaviours are affecting news publishers.

Do you commission freelancers at Press Gazette? If so, what makes a freelance pitch stand out to you?

Yes - for us it’s something that understands what we’re trying to do at Press Gazette and what our remit is. A good freelance piece for us will tend to have a new hook, or possibly some new data, even if that’s then used as a way into some analysis and it’s not all just a straight news piece.

For the initial pitch, I’d say an email stands out when it gives as much information as possible - it’s not too helpful when people share one line that may or may not be right for us.

Are there any red flags in a pitch that immediately make you want to say no?

Nowadays I’m on the lookout for anything that feels like it might have been written by, or helped by, AI so I’ll be scanning for any AI ‘tells’.

In addition, most of our articles on Press Gazette are usually pretty politically neutral and our only real agenda is being pro-journalism, so anything that feels like it’s coming at it from too much of an agenda would be a turn-off for me.

How much do a writer’s credentials and previous bylines matter to you?

Not too much - we’ve commissioned young freelancers fresh out of university. It’s more important that they’ve worked out what sort of angle would be right for a Press Gazette piece and make that clear straight away. Eg ‘I would interview this person, about this specifically.’

What would make you want to work with a specific writer long-term?

Whether they understand what Press Gazette does and can therefore deliver multiple pieces on the right themes. There’s a difference between getting one piece right and being able to do that multiple times.

In addition: filing when they say they will, without too much editing needed - although if you have one big edit and they still deliver a new version quickly, that’s fine. So really, it’s if they show they are happy to take on feedback and improve it, rather than you needing to do all the additional work around it.

From your perspective, what are the biggest challenges facing journalists and freelancers right now?

There’s so much uncertainty in the industry right now, largely coming from changing audience habits and referral traffic due to Google AI Overviews, but also ChatGPT and other chatbots. This is obviously already having an impact on jobs and work available already - and from what I am being told the UK is behind the US on this so there is more turbulence to come.

For newer freelancers, what’s one piece of advice you’d give for getting that first commission?

Nail why you are writing to that particular editor/publication. Eg other places do write about the media, but ‘I know this would be right for Press Gazette because…’ Make it clear at the top of your email that it’s not just a random attempt, that you’ve given it a lot of thought. That will get you in the door much quicker.