Selling National Stories

How acceptable it is to sell stories to the national press varies from paper to paper. In some newsrooms it is frowned upon, in some it is tolerated and in others it is openly talked about.

But the fact is that many local journalists do sell stories to the national press. As well as being a good source of extra income, it helps to develop contacts on national newspapers for those who are aiming to work for the nationals.

What are The National Press Looking For?

Much like local papers, national newspapers are looking for anything that people will find interesting, only with the national press the bar is raised much higher.

Mostly, the quirky human interest stories sell best. Again, the nationals are only likely to be interested in the very best of these stories, but don’t let this put you off. Often, the national press will use a story that is not great as long as it has a good hook, such as this story about a girl who was given an ASBO and the judge compared her to Little Britain's Vicky Pollard. This would have been unlikely to make a national story on its own merit, but the Little Britain reference gave The Sun the chance to include a photograph of the character.

Perhaps the best way of being able to work out what is likely to be accepted by the nationals is to make sure you regularly read every national newspaper. Critically appraise which stories are appearing in which papers and why. By doing this over a period of time, you should be able to get a good idea of which stories are likely to appeal to which papers.

It is not just human-interest stories that the nationals will be interested in. Any celebrity stories are likely to interest them and because of this it is worth getting to know any local celebrities. And while a famous person appearing at the local shopping centre might not be national news, it’s always worth asking them a question that leads to quotes The Sun might be interested in.

Approaching a National Paper

Many journalists try to haggle too hard the first time they sell a story to the nationals. Firstly, this is unlikely to endear you to the person on the other end of the phone. Secondly, it is generally impossible for them to give you a firm idea of a price because if it makes a page lead you will be paid much more than if it is just a nib.

The best approach is to phone the newsdesk and tell them the story as concisely as possible and hope they do not rip you off. You do not really have any other choice and if a national paper is ripping people off regularly then this will soon get around and journalists will stop giving them stories. But be clear from the outset that you expect payment.

On the whole, they will treat you OK and give you a decent amount of money. But in the long term, you should aim to cultivate a relationship with a reporter on the nationals. If you can convince them that you are a good source of stories then they are more likely to look after you.

In terms of deciding which paper to pitch to, this is something you have to work out yourself as you go along. In the first instance, go to The Sun for human-interest stories and the News of the World for stories with a celebrity angle. However, remember that different types of stories appeal to different papers. If, for example, you have a negative story about asylum seekers then the Daily Express is probably most likely to be interested.

While you need to be polite, do not let the nationals push you around too much. National news editors sometimes act like their paper is the centre of the universe, and can sometimes tell you that they will think about using the story without wanting to give a firm commitment. If they try this, make sure you are polite but give them a deadline by when you need to know whether they are interested. If they will not commit to this, then they are not interested enough in the story and you should go to a different paper.

Sometimes, national journalists will phone you for contacts on one of your stories they want to follow up on. Make sure you never give them any information unless they pay you for it, even if it is only £30.

You might be surprised how willing national newspapers are to part with money. The Daily Express once paid me £40 for a phone number I’d got out of the phone book.

Maximising a Story's Value

Even the editors who accept their journalists selling stories generally ask that they wait until the story is published in their paper first, particularly if it is likely to be a splash. The problem with this is that once it has been published the story is worth much less money because it is already in the public domain.

Also, make the national newspaper's job as easy as possible. Sometimes you will only be able to tip them off about the story, but it helps if you can also give them pictures and quotes as well.

The Rights and Wrongs of Selling National Stories

Given that your paper pays you to do a job, it can be difficult to justify selling stories to a national newspaper and it is even less justifiable to give them stories exclusively.

But the hundreds of pounds a story can generate can be vital to surviving on a journalist’s salary. Those reporters looking to justify selling their stories argue that if their editor did not want them to sell stories then they should have paid them a decent salary in the first place.

Getting Away with Selling National Stories

Regardless of the morality of it, it is important that you do not get caught, particularly if the story appears in the national press before it appears in your paper.

Firstly, it needs to be feasible that the national paper got the story from a different source than you. It is only really worth taking the risk if it is not obvious that you are the reporter who has had access to the story.

For example, I once attended a court case where a bus driver pleaded guilty to curb-crawling while driving his bus and I sold it to The Sun. When the newsdesk asked me if we were the only ones with the story, I told them there was an agency reporter in court. That way, they could not prove it was me who sold the story.

Also, make sure any quotes you give the nationals are different to the quotes in the story you write for the local paper. I once worked with a journalist who had a story about a  man who had been killed by his own dog. The journalist sold it to the Daily Mirror using the same quotes and it was the front page on both papers on the same day. The editor of our paper was less than pleased.