# How to Get Your Story on Local TV News in 2026: Every Route In, and Where to Find the Newsrooms
- Published: 2026-10-21
- Author: [Featured](https://marketermagazine.co/author/featured.md)
- Topics: [Insights](https://marketermagazine.co/insight.md)
- Source: https://marketermagazine.co/insight/how-to-get-your-story-on-local-tv-news-in-2026-every-route-in-and-where-to-find-the-newsro/
- Publisher: Marketer Magazine
For all the attention paid to podcasts, newsletters, and social video, the news source most Americans still turn to for what is happening where they live is the local television station. It is also the source they trust most. That combination makes a local news segment one of the most valuable placements available, and one of the least understood.
This guide covers why local TV still matters, what has changed inside newsrooms, the different ways a story gets on air and where to find the contacts for each, and how to pitch an assignment desk that is short on staff and long on airtime to fill.
## The audience has not left
The Pew Research Center's [Local News Fact Sheet](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/local-news-fact-sheet/), updated in April 2026, found that 65% of Americans get local news from local TV stations at least sometimes, more than from any other type of outlet. Television is also the platform most people prefer for local news, at 34%, ahead of news websites, social media, and print. Eighty percent say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their community.
Trust follows the same pattern. In the Reuters Institute's 2026 Digital News Report, [summarized by NewscastStudio](https://www.newscaststudio.com/2026/06/18/public-trust-news-brands-2026/), 56% of U.S. respondents rated local TV news trustworthy, ahead of every national brand in the survey. ABC News, NBC News and NPR scored 44%. A business featured on the local news borrows that trust in a way no advertisement can.
## The newsroom has changed
What has changed is the staff behind the newscast. The RTDNA/Newhouse survey [published in September 2026](https://www.rtdna.org/news/local-tv-news-employment-continues-to-decline) counted 26,458 full-time local TV news employees in 2025, down 2.2% in a year and the second consecutive decline. Nearly two-thirds of stations now rely on multimedia journalists who report, shoot, and edit their own stories, and the average station carries about two unfilled positions.
The newscasts have not shrunk to match. For anyone pitching, this is the most important fact about local TV in 2026: the newsroom needs stories that arrive ready to shoot, with a place, a time, a visual, and a person to interview. And when a national story breaks, it needs a local voice the same day.
## The ways a story gets on local TV, and where to find the contacts for each
There is more than one route into a newscast. The right one depends on the story, the budget, and how fast you need to move. Each route below comes with the places to find the people on the other end.
### 1. Localize breaking and national news
When a national story breaks, local stations need a local angle within hours. A local expert who can react on camera the same day, or local data that puts the story in the market's terms, gets booked. This is the fastest route onto local TV and the one most PR teams miss, because it requires watching the news as closely as the desk does. Speed matters more than polish; call the desk.
Where to watch for openings: a newsjacking tool that monitors breaking stories by beat and market. [Featured](https://featured.com)'s Newsjacking flags stories where a client fits, with the local angle, and opens a chat from each story card where you can ask for the TV stations in the client's market and draft the pitch to the news desk. Google Alerts and the reporters you follow from route 4 are the free, manual version.
### 2. Pitch the assignment desk directly
The assignment desk decides what gets covered each day. An email to the desk address, followed by a phone call for same-day stories, is the standard route for events, announcements, and visual stories with a time and a place. It is free, and it works when the pitch is built for television.
Where to find desk contacts: start with the station's own site, where the desk email and phone usually sit on a "Contact Us" or "Send a News Tip" page; most stations that produce news publish one. To find which stations serve a market, Wikipedia keeps well-maintained affiliate tables for [ABC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Broadcasting_Company_television_affiliates), CBS, NBC, and Fox, organized by market with the owner listed, and the FCC's [TV Query](https://www.fcc.gov/media/television/tv-query) tool returns every licensed station by city or state. Media databases such as [Cision](https://www.cision.com), [Muck Rack](https://muckrack.com), [Meltwater](https://www.meltwater.com), and [Agility PR Solutions](https://www.agilitypr.com) also carry broadcast desk contacts behind a subscription.
### 3. Search a TV station database built for pitching
Opening every station site in a market works, but it is slow. A newer category of tool indexes local TV stations directly and tells you which ones can be pitched. [Featured](https://featured.com)'s Find TV Stations is one: type a plain-language request such as "find TV stations in the Phoenix market" into its chat and it returns the stations serving that market from a database of 1,757 U.S. TV stations, with newsroom contacts for 470 of them across 195 markets. Each card shows the station's call sign, brand and market, plus the news desk email, phone and tip form when Featured has them, and Featured drafts a broadcast pitch to the desk on request. It searches by state, market, city or call sign, and it is free to start.
### 4. Pitch a specific reporter or multimedia journalist
Reporters who cover a beat, such as health, business, consumer issues, or education, often pick their own stories. Find the reporter who covered a similar story recently and pitch them directly. This route suits expert commentary and trend stories more than events.
Where to find reporters: the station's "Meet the Team" or "News Team" page lists on-air staff with bios, and some station groups publish individual emails there. [Muck Rack](https://muckrack.com) maintains free public profiles for most working journalists with their recent stories and social links, which is the fastest way to confirm a beat. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com) and [X](https://x.com) are where broadcast reporters announce beat changes and post callouts for sources; searching [\#journorequest](https://x.com/search?q=%23journorequest) on X surfaces live requests. Subscription databases ([Cision](https://www.cision.com), [Meltwater](https://www.meltwater.com), [Prowly](https://prowly.com)) add beat filters and verified emails on top.
### 5. Book an expert on a morning, midday, or lifestyle show
These programs book in-studio and remote guests every day and are produced separately from the news desk. A plain-spoken expert with something to demonstrate, available early, is a reliable booking. Pitch the show's producer, not the assignment desk, and offer two or three dates.
Where to find show producers: each program has its own page on the station site, often with a "Be on the show" or "Submit a segment idea" form and the producer's name. The show's social accounts usually name the producers and post segment calls. For lifestyle shows that accept paid segments, the station's advertising page is the entry point (see route 9).
### 6. Send a media advisory and stage the moment
For a ribbon cutting, a check presentation, a demonstration, or a community event, a one-page advisory listing who, what, when, where, and the visuals, sent two to three days ahead and again the morning of, is the format desks expect. Give crews a reason to come: something happening, not someone speaking.
Where to send it: the assignment desk addresses from routes 2 and 3, every station in the market, separately. Wire services distribute advisories and releases to newsroom inboxes by market for a fee, which is useful when the event spans several markets; [PR Newswire](https://www.prnewswire.com), [Business Wire](https://www.businesswire.com), [Newsworthy](https://www.newsworthy.ai) and Featured's [Press Releases](https://featured.com/product/features/press-releases) feature all do this. None of them replaces a direct email to the desk.
### 7. Answer reporter requests
Services that distribute journalists' source requests carry broadcast producers' queries alongside print and digital ones. This is reactive rather than proactive, but a well-matched response to a TV producer's request is a warm introduction, and the producer often comes back next time.
Where to find requests: [HARO](https://www.helpareporter.com), [Connectively](https://connectively.us), [Qwoted](https://www.qwoted.com), and [Source of Sources](https://www.sourceofsources.com). Muck Rack and Cision include request feeds for subscribers. On X, [\#journorequest](https://x.com/search?q=%23journorequest) and \#PRrequest carry the same traffic informally.
### 8. Distribute video for stations to use
Stations short on crews will run supplied footage. Satellite media tours, in which an expert does back-to-back interviews with stations from one location, and distributed B-roll and video news releases can reach dozens of markets at once. These are paid services and work best for national brands with a visual story.
Where to buy it: broadcast PR firms such as [D S Simon Media](https://www.dssimon.com) and [MultiVu](https://www.multivu.com), PR Newswire's multimedia arm, produce and book media tours and distribute B-roll to newsrooms; [Business Wire](https://www.businesswire.com) distributes video alongside releases.
### 9. Buy a sponsored segment
Many lifestyle and morning programs sell paid segments, clearly labeled as sponsored. They are not news coverage and viewers can tell the difference, but they offer guaranteed airtime and a usable clip. Ask the station's sales department, not the newsroom.
Where to start: the "Advertise With Us" page on the station site, which routes to the local sales team. Station groups also sell sponsored lifestyle segments across their markets through a central sales contact.
### 10. Use community calendars and public service announcements
For nonprofits and community events, most stations run free community calendars and some produce PSAs. These rarely lead to a segment on their own, but they put the event in front of the people who assign coverage.
Where to submit: the "Community" or "Events" section of the station site, which usually has a self-serve calendar form; PSA submissions typically go through the same page or the station's public affairs director.
### 11. Hire local help
A publicist or agency with relationships in the market knows which producers answer email, which desks prefer a call, and what each station has covered lately. For a campaign that needs coverage in several markets, that knowledge is often worth the fee.
Where to find them: the [PRSA](https://www.prsa.org) chapter in the market, local chamber of commerce member directories, and the agency credits on recent segments similar to yours.
## Before you build the list: confirm the market
Local TV is organized by Nielsen designated market areas, not cities. Suburbs and smaller cities often sit in a larger market's footprint and are covered by its stations. Nielsen publishes the [DMA map](https://www.nielsen.com/dma-regions/), and every state has a broadcasters association, reachable through the [National Association of Broadcasters](https://www.nab.org), that lists member stations. Whatever tool you use, build the list by market, pitch every station in it separately, and tailor one line to each station's newscasts.
## How to pitch an assignment desk
Broadcast journalists share the preferences of their print colleagues. In Muck Rack's [State of Journalism 2026](https://media.muckrack.com/documents/State_of_Journalism_2026_1.pdf) survey, 88% of journalists said they immediately delete pitches irrelevant to their coverage, 69% prefer pitches under 200 words, and 78% want pitches before noon. For television, a few additional rules apply.
***Lead with the picture.*** A television story needs something to film. The first two sentences of the pitch should describe what the camera will see: the location, the activity, and the people. A pitch about a new program is weak; a pitch about the first 20 families walking through the door on Tuesday morning is strong.
*Give a time and a place.* Assignment desks plan the day in a morning meeting. A pitch that can be copied straight onto the assignment board, with an address, a start time, and the name and mobile number of an on-site contact, has a real chance.
*Make it local.* National statistics become a local story when you add the local number, the local example, or the local expert. Name the market in the pitch and explain why viewers there should care.
***Offer the expert on camera.*** Morning and midday shows book guests every day, in studio and remotely. An expert who can speak in plain language, arrive at 6 a.m., and bring something to demonstrate is exactly what a producer needs.
***Pitch the right desk.*** Weather, sports, consumer, and investigative units have their own inboxes and their own priorities. A product recall belongs with the consumer unit; a youth sports program belongs with the sports desk.
***Pitch every station in the market separately.*** A story that fits one affiliate's early evening newscast usually fits its competitors' too. Send each station its own email with one line tailored to its newscasts, and never a visible group send.
***Send it early and follow up once.*** Pitch before noon. For a same-day story, call the desk about an hour later. Otherwise, one follow-up email after a few days is enough.
## A checklist before you hit send
- The market is right, and every station in it is on the list.
- The pitch names what the camera will see in the first two sentences.
- It includes a date, a time, an address, and an on-site contact with a mobile number.
- It names the market and says why viewers there care.
- It goes to the specific desk or producer, not a general inbox, where one is published.
- It is under 200 words and leaves before noon.
## The bottom line
Local television has the largest and most trusting local audience in the country, and the newsrooms behind it are stretched and in need of stories that are ready to shoot. The desks are reachable, and there are more routes in than most people use. The fastest is the local angle on a story that is already moving. Pick the route that fits, find the right desk, and bring the picture, the time, the place, and the person.