Newsjacking is the practice of adding a brand's expert commentary, data, or perspective to a breaking news story in order to earn media coverage. The term was coined by marketing strategist David Meerman Scott in 2011, and the idea has outlasted most PR tactics of that era for a simple reason: it is one of the most reliable ways for an expert with no news of their own to get quoted. It borrows the one thing every journalist is short on when a story breaks, which is a credible source who is available right now.
If you answer HARO requests, you already understand the mechanics. A reporter needs a quote, you supply one, and the story runs with your name in it. Newsjacking is the same transaction run in reverse. Instead of waiting for the reporter to ask, you watch the news and show up with the answer before the question is posted.
Why does newsjacking work?
Newsjacking works because it puts an expert in front of a journalist at the exact moment the journalist needs one, on a story the audience is already following. Three things happen in the first hours after a story breaks, and all three favor the expert who moves first.
Journalists go looking for sources. A developing story needs context, reaction, and a quote from someone who understands the subject. Reporters who cover a beat keep a short list of people they trust, and that list is built from whoever was useful last time. Being useful on a breaking story is how you get on it.
The story is still being written. Early coverage is thin because nobody has had time to analyze anything. A clear expert take, delivered while the story is still developing, fills a gap that will not exist 48 hours later when every outlet has a take of its own.
The audience is already paying attention. A newsjacked placement rides on interest the news created, not interest you had to build. That is why one timely quote can outperform months of pitching evergreen story ideas.
The window is real, and it closes. Fractl's analysis of 111 of its own newsjacking campaigns found that coverage landing more than a month after the pitch averaged 27.7 links, less than half the 60.5 earned by coverage that landed within two weeks. That study measures link-building campaigns, where a well-researched piece can outperform a rushed one, so its lesson is simply not to let a newsjack drag past a month. For expert commentary, the clock runs faster, and the reason is the one above: reporters write the follow-up and "what this means for you" pieces the same day, and a quote that arrives on day three has missed them.
What does a newsjack look like in practice?
A good newsjack is small. It is one specific sentence, from one qualified person, sent to one reporter while the story is still moving.
A hypothetical newsjack. The expert and the email below are illustrative, not a real placement. The news event is real.
The news: On Tuesday, November 21, 2023, two days before Thanksgiving, the IRS announced it was again delaying the $600 Form 1099-K reporting threshold and would phase in a $5,000 threshold for 2024 instead. Millions of people who sell on eBay or Etsy, or get paid through Venmo and PayPal, had been bracing for a form they now would not receive. Within the hour, personal-finance reporters were writing the "what this means for you" story.
The expert: a CPA who runs a small tax practice that works mostly with gig workers and online sellers.
What they would send: About 90 minutes after the announcement, a five-line email to the three reporters who covered the previous year's delay. The quote: "The delay changes which form shows up in your mailbox, not what you owe. If you made money reselling or freelancing in 2023, that income was taxable before this announcement and it is taxable after it. The real risk is the seller who hears 'delayed' and stops keeping records, because the $5,000 threshold arrives next year whether or not they are ready."
Notice what the expert did not do. They did not pitch themselves, their company, or a story idea. They supplied the missing sentence in a story that was already being written, and the byline would come with it.
What does it mean to localize a story?
Localizing a story means giving a national or global news story a local angle, by explaining what it means for a specific city, region, or industry. It is the most common form of newsjacking in local and trade press, because those outlets need the local read on every big story and rarely have a source for it on staff.
When the Federal Reserve announces a rate decision, the national story is written within minutes by the wire services. The Phoenix story is not. A Phoenix mortgage lender who emails the local business reporter that afternoon with what the decision means for a buyer on a $450,000 home in Maricopa County, and how many of their pre-approved clients are now waiting, is the source that reporter needs and the quote that runs.
Featured's newsjacking setup asks for the cities a client serves, so alerts and suggested angles can be tied to the markets where that client can speak with authority.
What makes a good newsjacking opportunity?
Not every headline is worth chasing. The stories that pay off share four traits.
The story touches your actual expertise. A tax attorney commenting on a new IRS rule is newsjacking. A tax attorney commenting on a celebrity breakup is noise. Reporters can tell the difference, and so can readers.
The story is still developing. Follow-up pieces, analysis, and "what this means for you" coverage are where expert quotes land. If the story has already been fully explained, the opportunity has mostly passed.
You have something specific to add. A number, a prediction, a contrarian read, or a practical next step gives the reporter a reason to use your quote instead of the five others in their inbox.
The tone fits the story. Tragedies, layoffs, and public health events can be newsjacked responsibly, but only when your contribution helps the audience. If your comment would read as opportunistic, it is.
How do you find newsjacking opportunities before the window closes?
The hard part of newsjacking has never been writing the quote. It is noticing the story in time and knowing who to send the quote to. Most experts solve this with some combination of four methods, and each one trades off cost against coverage.
Keyword alerts. Google Alerts and similar tools send an email when a term appears in new coverage. They are free and easy, but they fire on everything, and they tell you nothing about who is covering the story or what angle is open.
Journalist requests. HARO requests are the most direct form of newsjacking there is, because a reporter working on a breaking story will often post a request for exactly the kind of source you are. To start receiving HARO requests, subscribe to the HARO newsletter on helpareporter.com. Watching requests tied to the day's news is a habit worth building, and it costs nothing. Its limit is that it shows you the reporters who asked, not the ones who are writing the story without asking.
Social listening. Following the reporters on your beat and the hashtags around your industry surfaces stories early, and it is the best way to learn how individual reporters think. It also takes constant attention, which is why most experts drop it within a month.
Purpose-built newsjacking tools. A newer category of software brings news monitoring, angle suggestions, and media targeting together in one workflow. Featured, which owns and operates HARO, offers a newsjacking workflow that alerts you via Slack or email when a story breaks around keywords you follow. It also suggests angles for each story and identifies journalists covering the topic, relevant open HARO requests, and related podcast and speaking opportunities.
For experts who already respond to HARO requests, the advantage is context: instead of seeing requests in isolation, you can connect them to the news that prompted them and identify reporters who might be interested but haven't posted a request yet. The tool is best suited to experts who want to comment on news regularly. If you only plan to newsjack once or twice a year, keyword alerts and a regular HARO habit should be enough.
Whichever method you choose, the goal is the same: shrink the time between a story breaking and your pitch landing.
How do agencies newsjack for many clients at once?
Newsjacking breaks at the second client. Alerts for three clients in one inbox, no one assigned to triage, and a story that two of them could comment on means the window closes while the team decides who answers. The fix is structure, not more monitoring. Run a separate workflow for each client, with its own keywords, off-limits topics, and markets, and route each client's alerts to its own Slack channel so nothing lands in the wrong feed.
Give one person the job of triaging every alert within the hour, and keep a pre-approved paragraph per spokesperson so the pitch is editing rather than writing. Featured's workflow can be set up on behalf of a client, and the step-by-step guide on Connectively walks through the multi-client setup.
How do you write a newsjacking pitch?
Keep it to five lines. A reporter on a breaking story is not reading a second paragraph.
Lead with the story, not with yourself.
State your angle in one sentence.
Give the reporter a quote they could paste into the article verbatim.
Close with your credentials in a single line.
Offer to talk within the hour, and mean it.
Send it to the reporter who is already writing the story, not to a general inbox. If the story is fresh enough, the second-day piece is still unassigned, and your quote can shape it.
The short version
Newsjacking lets any expert borrow the attention of a story that is already being covered, at the exact moment journalists need sources most. The experts who win at it are not the loudest or the best connected. They are the ones who see the story first, know who is writing about it, and have something specific to say. Build a system for the first two, and the third is the fun part.
Frequently asked questions
What is newsjacking?
Newsjacking is the practice of adding a brand's expert commentary, data, or perspective to a breaking news story in order to earn media coverage. The term was coined by David Meerman Scott in 2011. PR practitioners also call it reactive PR, rapid-response PR, or trendjacking, and when the angle ties a national story to a specific market or industry, localizing a story.
How fast do you need to respond to a breaking story?
For expert commentary, the useful window is usually the first day or two after a story breaks, and the best pitches land within hours. Reporters write the follow-up and "what this means for you" pieces while the story is still developing, so a quote that arrives the same day can shape coverage that a quote arriving on day three cannot. For link-building campaigns built on a news hook, Fractl's data suggests coverage can land up to a month later and still perform, but not much beyond that.
Is newsjacking the same as reactive PR?
Mostly, yes. Reactive PR and rapid-response PR describe the same tactic from the agency's side, as a standing program for responding to news rather than a single pitch. Trendjacking usually refers to joining a social media trend rather than a news story. Localizing a story is a type of newsjack where the angle connects a national story to a specific city, region, or industry.
What does localizing a story mean?
Localizing a story means giving a national or global news story a local angle, by explaining what it means for a specific city, region, or industry. A Phoenix mortgage lender explaining what a Fed rate decision means for Phoenix homebuyers is localizing the story. It is the most common newsjack in local and trade press, because those outlets need the local read on every national story and rarely have a source for it on staff.
How do you find newsjacking opportunities?
Four methods, in order of effort: keyword alerts such as Google Alerts, which tell you a story exists; journalist requests such as HARO, where a reporter on a breaking story asks for a source directly; social listening on the reporters and hashtags in your beat; and purpose-built newsjacking tools, which combine news monitoring, angle suggestions, and journalist targeting in one workflow.
What is the best free newsjacking tool?
Featured Newsjacking is free to start. It alerts you by Slack or email when news breaks on the keywords you follow, suggests an angle for each story, and lists the journalists, open HARO requests, podcasts, and speaking opportunities you can pitch. Google Alerts and a HARO subscription are also free, but they leave the angle and the targeting to you.
