What is Media Relations
Media relations is a core discipline within public relations. At its heart, it is about building and maintaining productive relationships with journalists, editors, broadcasters, and media outlets so that stories reach the people best placed to tell them, and, in turn, the audiences that matter.
Good media relations is not about volume. It is about relevance, timing, and trust. A strong story sent to the wrong journalist will almost always fail, while a well-targeted pitch sent to the right person can deliver disproportionate impact. That judgement, knowing who to contact and why, is where media relations becomes skilled tradecraft rather than administration.
One of the most important tools supporting this work is the media list.
The role of media lists in effective PR
A media list is not simply a collection of email addresses. It is a curated, actively maintained group of journalists and outlets selected based on their relevance to a specific story, sector, or campaign.
Used properly, media lists allow PR teams to:
target journalists who genuinely cover a topic
avoid irrelevant or repetitive outreach
personalise pitches based on recent coverage
maintain credibility in a small, interconnected media market
Journalists receive hundreds of emails every day. Sending a pitch to someone who does not cover the subject wastes time on both sides and damages trust over time. Media lists exist to prevent that — ensuring stories land in inboxes where they have a genuine chance of being read and acted on.
Relevance over reach
Media relations works best when relevance takes priority over reach. A tightly focused list of journalists who actively cover a subject will consistently outperform large, untargeted distributions.
This is especially true in Ireland, where the media landscape is relatively small and relationships matter. Journalists quickly notice who understands their beat and who does not. Poor targeting is remembered; good targeting is appreciated.
Effective media lists typically include more than basic contact details. Alongside names and email addresses, they should capture:
outlet and role
sector or beat coverage
geographic focus
descriptive notes based on recent work
compliance markers such as GDPR opt-out status
This context allows PR teams to make informed decisions about who to contact and just as importantly, who not to contact.
Data quality as media relations tradecraft
Strong media lists depend entirely on the quality of the underlying data. Lists built from scraped sources or left unchecked quickly become inaccurate and unreliable. Journalists change roles, publications evolve, and editorial priorities shift.
Professional media relations requires databases that are actively researched, verified, and maintained. That level of care reflects how journalists actually work and supports more disciplined, respectful outreach.
Everhaze is designed around this principle. Its media database has been developed over several years of intensive research and real-world use by PR teams operating at national and international level. Contacts are individually verified and updated on a rolling basis, ensuring that lists remain accurate and usable rather than static and outdated.
Rather than encouraging mass distribution, Everhaze supports segmentation by sector, outlet type, geography, and language allowing teams to align stories with genuine editorial interest, whether that sits in national media, regional outlets, broadcast, online publications, or Irish-language media.
Media lists as relationship tools
At their best, media lists support relationships rather than replace them. Knowing that a journalist recently covered a similar issue, follows a particular beat, or works across multiple outlets allows PR teams to personalise outreach in a way that feels informed and respectful.
This level of preparation is often the difference between a pitch that is ignored and one that opens a conversation. It signals that the journalist’s work has been read and understood, not simply added to a distribution list.
The foundation of strong media relations
Before any campaign begins, effective media relations starts with clarity:
Who is this story for?
Why would this journalist care?
How does it fit within the current media landscape?
Media lists provide the structure needed to answer those questions consistently. When built and used properly, they connect stories to the journalists best positioned to tell them and ultimately to the audiences that matter.
Media relations is not about sending more emails. It is about making better decisions. Media lists are the foundation of that discipline, and platforms like Everhaze exist to support teams in applying it with accuracy, confidence, and intent.