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If the 2010s were an era of diversity in media, the 2020s are one of consolidation. This presents obvious challenges when you’re trying to get your organization mentioned in the news. 

The number of journalists in the US has shrunk by 75 percent since the turn of the century, so there are fewer people to pitch with your Exciting New Story. And the ones who remain are under increasing pressure to write about topics that are already proven—or at least believed by bosses—to produce revenue-generating traffic.

Even this kind of coverage is getting narrower. You’ve probably seen dozens, if not hundreds, of articles about AI this week—but the attention is tightly focused on a handful of companies like OpenAI and Nvidia, not the thousands of startups also working in the industry.

So what’s a press-hungry small or medium organization to do?

Swim with the tide, not against it

A giant company like OpenAI can generate an entire news cycle by releasing a shitty short form video app, simply because OpenAI is the one who released it. Meanwhile, a small tech company that found a viable way to drastically reduce AI’s energy consumption may find its pitches going unanswered due to lack of name recognition.

This is frustrating and unfair. It’s also not something that can be fixed with a cleverer pitch letter. Journalists know that a headline with “OpenAI” equals clicks, and if they want to keep their jobs, they need to keep people clicking.

So if you’re the small tech company, what do you do?

Instead of cursing the injustice of the attention economy (or perhaps in addition to cursing it), you need to find a way to connect your story to the one already being told. And in most cases, you need to be comfortable with playing the role of expert commentator, rather than being the star of the show.

To illustrate: “Small Tech Company Invents Energy-Saving Technology” is unlikely to persuade a journalist they should invest their time and energy in writing about your company. There are simply too many similar claims being made by too many similarly unknown actors (that may or may not be trustworthy). 

A pitch along the lines of “OpenAI’s New App Is an Energy Hog” is a much more attractive proposition because:

1. It makes a clear connection to a topic audiences already care about

2. It implies tension (which Startup TKTK just so happens to be perfectly positioned to comment on and resolve)

If you’re a leader of Small Tech Company, the second pitch will likely be less flattering to your ego. But it’s also more likely to earn the media hit you desire. 

Oh, and one more thing…

Because the last word is rarely the end of the conversation.

• Harper’s in-depth report on the internet subculture of gooning has sparked countless group chat debates/bouts of nausea.  

• If you share our co-founder Annmarie’s dislike of podcasts, this is an immensely cathartic read.

• Millions of words have been written about the dumpster fire that is the US healthcare system, but this might be the clearest explanation of how staying alive got so expensive.

Pebbles of the month

Much like penguins, we enjoy bringing you little gifts to show we care:

The World Cube Organization is hiring an Executive Officer (fully remote, $80k-120k per year, lots of benefits), and even if you’re not looking for a new job we highly recommend reading the company description.

Think you can guess who a person voted for based on their demographic info and professed beliefs? Take the survey and prepare to be dumbfounded!

The Guardian’s Comedy Wildlife Awards 2025 do not disappoint, unless you’re philosophically opposed to waterskiing loons.

Books are still good

Here’s what one of us is currently reading:

“The quickest way to a man's heart is through the fourth and fifth ribs.”

People cannot live on thousand-page history tomes alone. We love them, but as the holidays close in and my “books I read this year” number looks more and more pathetic, I want to give a shout-out to another important genre: 

The “fantasy romance,” or as my friends call it, fairy smut.

Specifically, I’ll direct you to the wildly popular A Court of Thorns and Roses series, or ACOTAR as it’s known on the internet. These five books check every box (magical powers…strange beasts…hot brooding guy…wait he’s also a bat? okay…plucky heroine…improbable names…historically chaotic setting…) The plot is impeccable, the modern-day lessons are pure, and there’s one book for each of the five “work days” between Christmas and New Years. 

Consider this permission from your unboss to throw propriety and caution to the wind this season, and get really obsessed with some slutty fairies. 

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