In this interview, Harrison Polites reflects on his media career thus far. As the founder of public relations firm, The Media Accelerator, Harrison speaks about what makes for a compelling pitch, emphasising the importance of placing press releases in front of the right people. With a background in business and tech journalism, Harrison also speaks about the state of freelance journalism and his foray into the platform Substack with his gaming newsletter, Infinite Lives.
Thanks for having me. Funnily enough, I was tricked out of journalism. I went for an interview for a PR role, with a former editor I respected. I was told it was a very "journalistic" PR position, with very little media pitching. Just leveraging my experience as a reporter. I accepted, after being frustrated applying for other more senior journalism positions and not getting anywhere.
It was all very dramatic for me, and not what I expected. I did six months on unpaid internships at newsrooms just to get a foot in the door. Worked really hard my first few years on the job to get up to snuff. Wouldn’t take no for an answer, and then three years in, pivoted.
Despite what I was told, I was pitching other journalists within my first week on the job. I stayed in PR because I was good at it. I didn’t expect it, at all. There's something nice about PR in that you can leverage your expertise in media to help others, and it's really appreciated. It's a contrast to journalism, which can be thankless at times.
Infinite Lives is really a return to the start of my career, where I worked as a technology journalist for Business Spectator. One itch that PR doesn't really scratch is my curiosity, drive to ask questions and learn. And Infinite Lives allows me to do exactly that.
First off: Games freelancing is very tight and paid opportunities are few and far between. I'm lucky to have an established sole-run PR business. As a result, when I went into this, I wanted to ensure that anything I did added to the opportunities for those writing about games for a living. I wanted to add to the pie, not take away from it, and I've been very deliberate in my decisions to service that goal.
With regard to the state of freelancing: It's not great. I have plenty of friends who work as freelancers. They are in a compromised position to call this out, so I'm going to say what they can't. The way in which some publishers, not all, but some, treat freelancers is very sad for the industry. It's a blind spot.
If anyone else, in any other industry, had to submit work and then wait for over three months for payment, and its systemic, it would be a story. The various regulators would be all over it. Media would not relent until its changed. Yet in Australia, that's the norm for most freelancers. Moreover, most are paid a pittance. In some rounds, reporters can expect less than $50 an article regardless of length. I saw a major US gaming website offer $50 USD per article publicly less than a month ago. It's gotten that bad, that now there's no shame in publishing that.
I'm looking to commission more work for Infinite Lives this year. I ran my first last year, and I'm paying $1 per word, the MEAA recommended amount, with an advance and final payment on acceptance of the final copy. If I can raise enough to fund two pieces this year, that would be incredible. If someone else saw what I was doing and found a way to match me, that would also be a win in my books.
As a former business reporter, I understand the commercial realities of running a media business are rough. It's a tough industry. It's hard to make money via advertising and subscriptions. I now know the latter for a fact, given I’m asking for them. It feels like the game is changing every few years. Editors also have no budget to work with. And I do not deny that I am in a privileged position. But, I do hope some headway is made here.
With Substack: It's an interesting platform. One aspect I have working against me, is that they don't have a dedicated videogames section. This makes discovery harder, and also forces writers on the platform to find one another via its social-media style Notes system. I've seen people writing about other topics gain thousands of subscribers in months, simply due to the power of Substack itself surfacing your work. It’s been a harder climb for me personally, but I’m really starting to make headway now. In the past year, I grew from 120 to over 500 subscribers in a year. Half in Australia, half elsewhere globally. With a republishing deal that I’ve struck with StartUp Daily, I know that my work is getting a much bigger reach beyond that too.
We've also seen a massive trend in the US of well-regarded journalists breaking away from major publishers and running their own business using the platform. Over there, it makes sense. If they get just 0.1% of their audience to follow them and possibly pay, they have a stable income. In Australia, the reduced economies of scale make the math harder.
But, there's a real opportunity there for more actual journalism on Substack. So many publications on Substack are just opinion or aggregators of the news. The snake is kinda eating its own tail here: The vast majority of paid Substacks are newsletters are built solely around telling other writers how to succeed at Substack. It's bonkers.
I asked my fellow Substack games writers last year how many intend to do interviews for their pieces? The answer: None of them. If you can put in the work, I think you can do really well.
On occasion, you have a story that everyone will want or at least want to know about. It's rare, but it happens. At that point, emailing newsrooms is a bit like whack-a-mole. You need the right pair of eyes to see the release for it to go anywhere. Services like Medianet ensure this, as they target down to the right reporters, but also distribute broadly at the same time. Press release distributors are important for some stories. And effective use of them can define the success of your campaign.
As for PR advice: I've always said the empathy is my best tool in PR. One of the reasons running Infinite Lives has improved my PR game is because it's put me back in the mindset of being a reporter again. It's made me think in headlines. So to get into the headspace of a reporter: Read, watch or listen to their work. Understand the structure of their day. Be helpful. Don't always push your own agenda. A good PR is honestly worth their weight in gold to the right journalist. One that anticipates what they would want, and helps them succeed at their job, rather than just cares about client mentions. Don’t be afraid to help reporters out with contacts, context, tips. Just because you say it doesn’t mean it’s immediately a story, but all extra info is helpful.
The challenge is balancing this with pressures from clients. Sometimes you literally just need to send something and see. That's OK, and journalists broadly understand that. You can tell the difference between a targeted pitch and a mail out. But knowing what is genuinely a good story for someone is paramount. And that tends to come with experience — sometimes outside of PR and media — but also reading more broadly.
Media is a hard industry. I stumbled on this with my career, but: It's OK for your journey in media to be non-linear. You don't need to work in a newsroom your whole life. In fact, by breaking away and trying something else, you will bring more expertise back to the newsroom when you return.
I think a lot of reporters are stuck in the mentality that journalism is all they can do. But their skills are so ubiquitous and vital to so many organisations. Not just in a PR capacity either, as I know plenty of journalists fear being on the other side of the inbox.
So, while I was always valued by my newsroom employers, if you ever find yourself undervalued, or struggling, consider other roles. Many newsrooms I know struggle to hire veteran reporters, yet are flooded with grad applications. If you have more than three years experience, and writing portfolio, and know people, there are ways back in if you want. If you go back, you'll be better for it, as all experience assists in reporting.
As for the future of news? Globally: We're going to see more independent publishers and journalists running their own things. Most will opt to be reader supported. People trust other people, and I think AI will push more readers towards following individuals over organisations. This will be interesting to watch in Australia, as our level of media concentration across a few key outlets may either accelerate this or insulate us from it.