[0:05:35] AS: Yeah. I feel like I'm bombarded by pitches. Almost all of them I'm ignoring. Most of
them irrelevant to what I'm covering. So, if there's something in the lead of the pitch or the
subject line that happens to be something that I'm thinking about or covering or something that
I'm always thinking about, then I'll read the pitch and it may or may not be something I'm
interested in. But most of the pitches are not all that relevant. They seem to be half hazardly
cherry picked from previous reporting I've done.

[0:06:10] BB: Wait. What do you mean cherry – how do you mean?

[0:06:12] AS: Yeah. One of my pet peeves with pitches is when comms people will say they'll
do their pitch and then they'll say like, the fact, this was – I'm going to read you something,
because it was in one of the recent examples I got as something that bothered me, okay, but I'm
going to pull it up right now. Let's see here. Okay.

[0:06:33] BB: Thank you for dishing it, by the way, Alex. This is what we like on the show. Go
ahead.

[0:06:37] AS: The pitch was about AI technology and how – so it was, it says, here's the
beginning. “Hi, Alex. We're past the midway mark of 2024 and the media landscape.” Okay, I
cover media, fine, is right for disruption, but which trends will drive activity across the sector
throughout the rest of the year? Then it goes into trends and they're all more or less about AI,
data integration, privacy, VR advertising opportunities. AI enhanced creativity and efficiency.

I don't really cover any of that stuff. However, five months ago, I did write a couple of stories,
because I went to Davos with CNBC about AI. So, if you were very lazy about trying to figure out
what I covered, you may assume that I do cover AI, because I have written about it, but that
doesn't mean that I care about it on a day-to-day basis. We have a whole team at CNBC that
covers tech and AI. I'm just not part of it. Anyways, after all of this, there's a sentence here,
which is, “Alex, given your previous coverage with a link to my own story of media predictions.”

[0:07:42] BB: In case you forgot.

[0:07:43] AS: Right. “Given your previous coverage of media predictions.” Link to my story. “I'd
be more than happy to connect you with blah, blah, blah, blah on the emerging trends.” A couple
of things there, which is, right, one, you don't need a link to my own story. I'm aware of what I
cover and what I don't.

[0:07:59] BB: I remember.

[0:08:00] AS: Two, I don't cover media predictions. That doesn't even make sense. Nobody
covers media predictions. Once a year, I write a story, every year where I talk to a bunch of
media executives.

[0:08:14] BB: Once a year.

[0:08:14] AS: Anonymously. Then I aggregate 10 or 12 or 15 of their predictions for the previous
year, but this is once a year, I do it at the same time, every year at the end of the year. Not only
does it not make sense, but it's something I'm doing once a year. Also, it doesn't relate to what
anything you just said. Like the predictions thing I did doesn't have anything to do with this
random person in my mind.

I've never met this person. I don't know what they do to talk about these fairly random trends in
my mind. It's not random of this person, because it's what they do on a day-to-day basis, but to
me it is. There's nothing about that pitch that is good in my mind.

Pitch Breakdown: Short and Relevant Pitches

[0:09:07] AS: I got it this past week, which was – the name of the company, A Digital Wealth
Management Platform is closely following the NFL's decision to allow private equity to invest in
the teams. Head of private investments, a woman's name is available to discuss the topic. She
can share insights on the decision. Its implications for investors and any ripple effects if it may
have on college sports. End of pitch. What was that, two, sentences? Here's the thing, which is
that I happened to be working on a story about NFL team evaluations that is going to go along
with this big launch of the CNBC sport vertical. I was literally writing the portion of that story
about how private equity may affect the evaluations.

[0:09:50] BB: I mean, that's just great.

[0:09:53] AS: I get this pitch and I'm thinking to myself, as I'm writing it. You know, I need a
voice for this. I need an expert here.

[0:09:59] BB: Ta-da. That's just wonderful, serendipitous timing, like that's amazing. Yeah.

[0:10:04] AS: Wonderful, serendipitous timing. But that's almost always how these pitches
work. It's almost – it doesn't necessarily happen the moment, like that one, but for me, it usually
is a situation of I'm writing a story, I realize I need a voice, let me check my inbox to see if I've
gotten any recent pitches about this specific topic. So, that's the order of operations of how the
pitches work for me. It is very rare that you are going to pitch me a story flat out. I'm going to be
like, “Oh, that's a good story.”

The order of operations here is I've come up with the story or my editors and I've come up with
the story. I've already chosen that. Then I need someone who is an expert in this particular area
and how am I going to find this expert? Well, that's where the pitch is coming. It's either
somebody I know or it's somebody like in this one, this is a really niche thing. Private equity
investment in NFL teams, like that isn't someone that I run with in circles all the time. It is perfect
for a pitch. It's someone like, “Well, who is an expert on this?” So, that's where email pitches
can really help.