Press releases can be the bane of a journalist's existence. When filled with fluff and cliché quotes, they end up in the trash folder more often than not.

But to be fair, when a press release is clear and straight to the point, it can yield useful story leads, news contacts or sometimes even exclusive interviews.

In this week's podcast, journalist-turned-publicist Helen Croydon talks about how the worlds of journalism and PR can strike an effective working relationship.

Now that she has experienced the pressures of both professions, she runs PR training sessions for Nine Media and also hosts The Media Insider Podcast, where she advises on how to get stories into the media from a journalist's perspective.

From press release pet peeves to pitching pitfalls, Croydon explains what journalists really want from press releases and what holds press officers back from successfully pitching their clients.

Looking to drive deep change in your newsroom? Learn to make those transformations Newsrewired on 27 November at Reuters, London. Head to newsrewired.com for the full agenda and tickets

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