01Read
We read the writer first
Before a pitch goes out, we have read the reporter's recent work and know the beat they actually cover. No lists bought, no blasts sent. A file per name.
Sec. 01 · Approach
41°12′N 124°00′W
Approach41°12′N 124°00′W
One subject, read first.
Baseline & Meridian is not an agency with a public-lands practice. Public lands are the whole desk. It is the only thing we work on, and it is the reason a pitch from us reaches a reporter already on the beat.
Coverage is the distribution you don’t pay for.
Most organizations doing serious work never earn it, because pitching well is slow and pitching badly burns the writers you need. We do it the slow way, for a small number of people worth covering, and we protect the relationships as if the next launch depends on them. We draw on more than a decade of public-lands media, since 2011, and we keep the list short on purpose.
02Build
We build the material
Every launch gets a real release, a fact sheet, the data methodology, approved art, and quotes. The material a serious desk can file from without a phone call.
03Pitch
We pitch one at a time
Individual notes that cite the writer's own reporting, offer the interview, and link the kit. One follow-up, then silence. A hard cap, honored every day.
We work only on public lands, and only on work worth the reporter’s time.
The tools, data, and reporting that shape how America understands its public lands, and the people making them. We take on a few at a time so each one gets the attention a launch actually needs. If the story is not true, or does not matter, we are the wrong desk.
i
We only pitch what is real
Every figure in a pitch traces to a live data source or a verifiable number. No invented stats, no manufactured urgency, no embargo we cannot honor.
ii
We contact writers on the record
Only the professional addresses a writer or outlet has published. Every contact carries its source. No paywalled databases, no guessed emails.
iii
One follow-up, then we stop
A reporter's silence is an answer. We follow up once, briefly, then leave it. No campaigns of attrition, no seventh touch.
iv
A person always signs off
Nothing reaches a reporter without a named person approving it. The desk moves fast, but it never moves unsupervised.