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Welcome to another installment of the show!
Our guest on today’s episode is Samantha "Sam" Cole, journalist and co-founder at 404 Media, an independent outlet "exploring the ways technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world" founded in August 2023 by veteran tech writers.
During the episode, Sam discusses the history of 404 Media, its coverage and its founding in 2023, what makes a great PR relationship for her, and pointers for email and pitch etiquette.
Follow Sam on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.
Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:
Meet Sam and 404 Media, Founded in August '23
[0:00:42] BB: Welcome, everyone. This is Coffee with a Journalist. I'm Beck Bamberger and we bring journalists, reporters, editors, sometimes deputy editors, and freelancers to our lovely little podcast to demystify the world of media and how publicists could better work with our lovely media, because we all got a job to do and we're trying to do it well without killing ourselves in inboxes.
With us today is Samantha, but Sam, she goes by, Cole, who is a journalist and also the Co-Founder of 404 Media. We often don't have like the founder, the co-founder here, Sam. So, how exciting and welcome.
[0:01:21] SC: It's so good to be here. Thank you, Beck.
[0:01:23] BB: Yes. Thank you. Okay. I asked this of everybody, even if it's the New York Times. How would you describe the coverage of 404?
[0:01:31] SC: Yeah. 404 just started in August of 2023. So, we're a little bit new. It's only, so much time you can call ourselves new, so we're using it, but we are four journalists from Vice.
We all worked at Motherboard, which is Vice's tech outlet. We left in August to start our own thing. We're working on a lot of the same beats that we did at Motherboard, so people who know that outlet are already familiar, but we've got a bit of a new twist on it.
Nowadays, we're writing about basically any kind of community, the people who are making places run, the stuff that affects humans in the real world, but as it pertains to technology and online spaces. I write about AI, the adult industry, sexuality online.
A little bit of everything, really is like what we all write about. My colleagues write about hacking, and write to repair, and things like that, so it's a bit of a mix, but I hope folks can visit our website and click around a little bit, because I think, we're proud of it. We're really excited to still be going 10 months later.
[0:02:35] BB: Yes. My God. Congrats, congrats. Just congrats on your boldness of starting something yourself and doing that. Okay. I'm sure you get a gazillion emails pertaining to the joys of being a founder. Don’t I know it, but how is your inbox as it relates to pitches? Do you get a lot of pitches?
[0:02:59] SC: I do get a lot of pitches.
[0:03:01] BB: Oh, okay. People have found you.
[0:03:02] SC: People have found me. People have found us for sure, which is nice. I appreciate that. My inbox is a disaster zone. I try to keep it under control.
My colleagues are, some of them, are inbox zero people. I'm like, I can't. I can't do it. I'm looking at my inbox right now, I have 120 unread, which I think is not that bad.
[0:03:25] BB: That's a little hot. I'm an inbox zero, so I'm like, “Oh, God. Oh, God.”
[0:03:28] SC: You know, they're just all sitting there waiting.
[0:03:30] BB: Yeah. They’re all – okay. Okay.
[0:03:32] SC: I try to keep on top of it, but yeah, it's to stand out on my inbox, you have to be special. It's a little of a mess.
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Sam on "The Best Folks that Work in Public Relations"
[0:07:17] BB: Yeah. Okay. Good to know. What's on your just story list or/sources? Who do you want to hear more from?
[0:07:28] SC: That's a good question. I mean, I think honestly the best folks that work in public relations who I've had relationships with are the ones who bring me stories, or tips, or updates about whatever industry they're working in without really having something to sell or to promote.
It's like, “Oh, I saw this thing and I thought you might be interested in it.” Just in general or just text me a link to the story it’s like, “Oh, did you miss this?” It's like, “I thought this might be interesting for you, your beat in general.”
They're not like, I have someone for you to speak on that specifically, like I don't really go for the like, we have an expert on this topic that I just am not writing about. I've gotten a lot of, like “We have an expert on the Trump trial.” It's like, that's not something I'm covering at all.
[0:08:16] BB: Yeah.
[0:08:17] SC: Yeah. It's like, okay. I didn't need that.
[0:08:46] SC: But yeah, it's the people who are like, who aren't really pushing any kind of particular client, but if I did come to them and say, “Hey, I'm writing this story. Do you know anyone? Do you have anyone on your rolodex, your speed dial who would be a good fit to speak on this?
They're like, “Yes. Absolutely.” They take it out from there, but even when we're not really working on something particular, it's like, “Hey, this could be something good for you.”
It works both ways. It's like building that kind of relationship back and forth is, is always good. So, those are the folks that I always, I replied to their messages always.
[0:09:23] BB: I'm so glad you mentioned relationships. How do you like to make relationships with, let's say, publicists? Is it an in person? Is it just, hey, be consistent via email?
Hey, eventually, I'll see you out in the streets. Maybe when I go rolling back to New York, whatever, like how does that look for you?
[0:09:38] SC: I think it depends on the person. I think being consistent over email, obviously is like great. I usually don't have like a lot of bandwidths to like get on a call every time there's something to discuss or like hop on a zoom.
It's like, I don't want to really want to like block out a specific half hour of my day to like talk about something that I don't even know if it's going to be like, yeah, I'll do that for some people, but like not if I don't really know what we're going to be talking about. Over email is always great.
Texting, if we're like if we already have like an established relationship or like seeing people – I see people at like events, industry events and things like that.
That's always really fun and fantastic. Just like seeing people organically and going from there is always really good.
But yeah, I mean and it's also, I'm in LA now, so like getting around is a pain in the ass. It's like a coffee meat is like okay.
[0:10:32] BB: That's a three-hour affair.
Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences
[0:18:04] BB: Okay. Very helpful. Sam, we have a list of quick-fire questions, so here we go. Video or phone interview?
[0:18:12] SC: If I'm doing the interviewing video.
[0:18:15] BB: Okay. Bullet points or paragraphs in a pitch?
[0:18:18] SC: Bullet points.
[0:18:20] BB: Short or long pitches? Although, that could be solved by the bullet points, but you tell us.
[0:18:26] SC: Short.
[0:18:26] BB: Okay, short. Images attached or drop box zip file?
[0:18:31] SC: Attached, probably. Unless they're like huge images, I guess. Yeah.
[0:18:36] BB: Okay. Twitter or a DM of any sort? We already covered that, but just to clarify.
[0:18:42] SC: Yeah. I mean, people can DM me. That's fine.
[0:18:43] BB: Okay. Okay. One follow-up or multiple?
[0:18:47] SC: Multiple. I need multiple, unfortunately.
[0:18:51] BB: Okay. This is good. Say it out loud. Say it proud. Okay. Direct or creative subject lines?
[0:18:57] SC: Direct. Always direct.
[0:18:58] BB: Yes. Press releases or media kit?
[0:19:01] SC: Give me the whole kit, if you got a kit. Why not?
[0:19:04] BB: Let's do it. Is there any particular time you read pitches?
[0:19:08] SC: In the morning.
[0:19:09] BB: Okay. Morning. Morning. LA time. PT time.
[0:19:11] SC: Yeah.
[0:19:12] BB: Good to know. Sam, is there anything we can do to celebrate, to tout, to just give you a little spotlight on any of the great stuff you're doing? Tell us, tell us.
[0:19:23] SC: People can visit 404media.co. Obviously, that's the easiest way to find us and to get access to our work. We're a subscriber based.
We rely on subscribers to keep the lights on. Yeah, if you're interested, sign up. If you want to support, sign up. Yeah, and keep up with us.
We also have a comment section that I think is really fun. People can jump in and comment on what they find interesting.
That's for subscribers too. Yeah, and we have a podcast. If people are into this podcast, they might be into the 404 Media Podcast.
[0:19:53] BB: Right on the top of the website, by the way.
[0:19:54] SC: Yeah. Everywhere you get them, that's where you can listen.
[0:19:56] BB: That's perfect. Sam, thanks for being on here today. Sam Cole, she's a Co-Founder, wow, and Journalist of 404 Media. Check it out. Thanks, Sam.
[0:20:07] SC: Thanks, Beck. This was fun.
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