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Module 05 / Lesson 20 · Read, apply, check
Maintain a relationship and coverage record that supports continuity, corrections and honest reporting.
A useful media record contains current role, beat, relevant work, public contact source, stated preferences and the date verified. Add the agency owner, client context, last substantive exchange and outstanding promises. Keep observations factual: declined because the topic was outside the beat is useful; dislikes our client is speculation unless explicitly established and relevant. Avoid storing personal details that do not help professional coordination. The record should allow a colleague to continue the conversation accurately during an absence without rereading every email or repeating an approach that has already been closed.
A sent pitch is activity. A substantive reply, interview or published article is a different event. Referral visits, relevant enquiries and changes in audience understanding are outcomes requiring their own evidence. Give each item an appropriate field rather than compressing everything into a single success count. Record the route: independent reporting, contributed expertise, membership, commercial placement or distributed release. This makes it possible to evaluate the campaign honestly and prevents a large quantity of repeated release copies from being presented as many independent journalists choosing to cover the client.
Check the URL, publication date, title, author, route label, client role, important factual claims and any links. Distinguish a factual error from a framing choice the client dislikes. If a correction is needed, identify the exact statement and provide concise supporting evidence through the appropriate channel. Do not demand removal of accurate criticism simply because it is inconvenient. Check whether copies are original reporting, syndication or substantially identical distribution. Save enough evidence to support the report while respecting permissions for reproducing full articles or using publication logos in marketing materials.
At review time, identify which angles produced relevant conversations, where evidence was missing and what the team learned about each beat. Link published coverage to measurable referral or enquiry data where available, but separate observation from attribution. A customer mentioning an article is useful evidence; it does not establish that every new sale was caused by the campaign. Assign follow-up actions such as fixing a source gap, checking a changed journalist role or preparing a new data release. The record should improve future decisions, not simply justify the invoice with a wall of logos.
Current beat, contact source, owner and promises.
Pitches, replies and interviews recorded accurately.
Live facts, route, originality and correction status.
Observed audience or business signals with attribution limits.
A fictional agency records twelve pitches, three substantive replies, two interviews and one independent article for a manufacturing client. It also logs six copies of a distributed announcement in a separate category. When the article appears, the team checks the client’s production figure and finds a transposed digit. It sends a brief correction request with the approved source record, then updates the log only after the live article changes. The monthly report distinguishes the original article from distribution copies and notes four tracked referral visits without claiming all leads came from the coverage. A salesperson reports that one prospect mentioned the article, so the agency records that as an observed assisted conversation with its source and date.
Another report counts every URL as a unique editorial win, includes sent pitches as pending coverage and attributes the month’s entire revenue increase to PR. It never checks the live article, so an incorrect figure is repeated in the client’s sales deck. The impressive total is less useful than a smaller accurate report because it conceals route differences, evidence gaps and a correction the agency should have caught.
A sophisticated dashboard cannot repair ambiguous definitions. Start with a simple record whose categories people use consistently, then automate collection where it saves time. Human review remains necessary for route classification, duplicates, factual errors and interpreting whether an observed business outcome can reasonably be connected to the campaign. Assign a named reviewer to ambiguous classifications.
Do not store unnecessary personal information or reproduce entire articles without appropriate permission. Use professional contact data and factual interaction notes. Treat correction requests as evidence-based communication, and report a correction as completed only after checking the live result or receiving reliable publisher confirmation.
Do this today · 30 minutes
Build a coverage register for the manufacturing campaign.
Use a document or spreadsheet and the fictional case in this lesson. Public or synthetic evidence is sufficient; no purchase or real outreach is required.
Before: Current beat, contact source, owner and promises.
After: Observed audience or business signals with attribution limits.
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Have a colleague review your decision and evidence. Record the unresolved question, its owner and the next review date before using the plan with a client.
Before you move on
Your campaign produced one reporter-written article and six substantially identical release copies. A figure in the article is wrong, and four referral visits are measurable. The client asks for a results slide. Which treatment is most accurate?
Next lesson →Society of Professional Journalists: ethics resources
Lesson edition 1.0 · References reviewed 16 October 2026 · Practical exercise reviewed 16 October 2026. Examples are illustrative teaching scenarios.
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Illustrative cost comparison using October 2026 plan prices; check current terms before purchase. Assumes one eligible placement per credit and comparable selected opportunities, not a prediction of rankings, revenue, coverage or AI citations. Actual suitability depends on audience fit, editorial requirements and the current plan terms. DA/DR are third-party metrics, not Google scores.
Choose publications available on your plan, prepare useful content for the audience and submit it for editorial review. Track accepted placements in your dashboard and evaluate them against your campaign goals.
Relevant evidence. Honest routes. Useful relationships.
Use the worksheets to turn each lesson into a real decision. Improve the campaign as you learn from reporting conversations, verified evidence and observed results.
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