Last week, we gave you a little reminder about our Expert Database, but wait, there’s more!
When you’re messaging a journalist on Synapse, you can @tag one of your experts directly in the conversation. Their full expert profile is linked into the message, so the journalist can quickly see who they are, what they know and why they’re relevant to them.
If you haven’t added your experts yet, now you’ve got another reason to.
Right, onto The Loop – live journo requests, what journalists want, PR tips and the news worth knowing this week. 👇
👀 WHAT JOURNALISTS WANT
Your weekly look at what journalists are asking for on Synapse
TRENDING SECTORS THIS WEEK
- Home & Garden – 23%
- Personal Finance – 14%
- Health – 14%
- Employment & HR – 9%
- Public Sector & Legal – 9%
Something we spotted:
You can tell autumn has arrived. Heating bills, pensions and getting homes ready for the colder months are creeping onto journalists’ agendas, while Home & Garden continues its run at the top. Health is having a busy week too, with both experts and case studies wanted.
Based on journalist requests posted on Synapse from 21-28 September.
🔥 MUST READ PR TIP
…because the best PR advice comes straight from the people who know
Journalist and media consultant Nick Huber has a simple plea for PRs writing press releases: stop filling them with quotes nobody actually said.
“The problem with most press release quotes is that they are made up by the PR and filler.”
Instead of another “we’re delighted…” quote, Nick suggests actually speaking to the executive – even for a few minutes. Ask what they really think about the industry, the challenges they’re seeing or what’s changing.
👉 Read Nick’s full LinkedIn post
🗞️ PR-Y STUFF
The PR and media bits worth knowing this week
- AI is forcing PR agencies to rethink the billable hour – Stephen Waddington argues that as AI cuts the time needed to deliver PR work, charging clients based on hours makes less sense. The opportunity is to price around value and outcomes instead, but there’s a catch: agencies need to get much better at measuring the commercial value of their work before they can confidently make that shift. read more
- How comms pros can get into politics? – Sunday Crunch author Noah Keate says comms pros should pitch the journalist writing the next edition directly, show exactly why the story matters to its Westminster audience and give as much notice as possible. Generic mass emails, tenuous political hooks and pitches that arrive too late are much less likely to make the cut. read more
- What do clients actually want from their PR agencies? – Admiral Group’s Addy Frederick says the best agency partners challenge ideas, bring outside perspective and understand the business well enough to know what will actually work. Her biggest turn-off is a generic pitch that could have been sent to any company, so skip the jargon, understand the organisation and “talk to us like a friend”. read more
- PR confessions get messy – PRWeek’s latest Am I the PR A*hole? episode tackles the questionable decisions comms people make when things go sideways. This week: inventing a car crash after a client bailed on a press briefing, resigning an account without the authority to do so, and accidentally insulting colleagues in a team bonding session. One for anyone who enjoys PR dilemmas with a side of chaos. listen to the episode
- LinkedIn wants to edit your posts now – LinkedIn has rolled out a new Post proofreader for Premium Career and Business users. Rather than writing the post for you, it works on what you’ve already written, with three options: fix spelling and grammar, shorten the copy or make it clearer. read more
🔎 LIVE JOURNO REQUESTS
Here’s what journalists are currently looking for on Synapse:
Mirror Online:
Future:
Freelance:
- I’m writing an article for a well-known industry publication about disruption mitigation and the financial costs to companies – Industry Publication
- I’m looking for a neuroscientist ONLY based in the UK for a Telegraph feature on the brain benefits of different hobbies. – The Telegraph
- Looking for Shropshire locals to recommend artisan food, makers and local spots – Freelance
- Looking for fragrances inspired by destinations around the world – Freelance
- Looking for people who sold their car to save money by using public transport – The i Paper
- Looking for women with ADHD whose symptoms worsen during their menstrual cycle – Living360
- Looking for small businesses with AI examples uncovering fraudulent employee expenses – National
- Looking for European tungsten mining experts, projects and technology providers – MINE Magazine
- Looking for AI startups tackling workplace fraud and employee theft – Freelance
- Living 360 is looking to partner with a brand for ADHD-related competition prizes. Please contact me if interested. Thanks! – Living360
Want to dive deeper? Have a nose through all the live requests on the marketplace
📆 NEXT MONTH’S HOOKS
…a little head start on what’s coming up in October.
💻 7 Oct: Open Source Summit Europe 2026 – It’s where maintainers, technologists, and community leaders come together to share knowledge, collaborate on solutions, and push open source projects forward.
🎬 7 Oct: BFI London Film Festival – The 70th edition brings 12 days of premieres, international films, Screen Talks and events to London and cinemas across the UK. It opens with Elsinore and closes with The Debut.
🎬 9 Oct: “Other Mommy” (Universal) – It adapts Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House from the perspective of an eight-year-old girl.
🎬 9 Oct: “The Social Reckoning” (Sony) – A companion piece to the 2010 film The Social Network, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin.
💻 13 Oct: TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 – At Moscone West in San Francisco, California. The three-day event gathers over 10,000 founders, VCs, and operators.
📈 15 Oct: GDP monthly estimate, UK: August 2026.
🎬 16 Oct: “Street Fighter” (Paramount) – Directed by Kitao Sakurai, the film is set in 1993, starring Jason Momoa.
🎬 16 Oct: “Whalefall” (Disney) – Directed by Brian Duffield, the film stars Austin Abrams as a scuba diver who is swallowed by a sperm whale, leaving him with just one hour of oxygen to escape.
📊 20 Oct: UK Labour Market: October 2026.
📊 21 Oct: Consumer price inflation, UK: September 2026.
💰 22 Oct: LSE Group Q3 Trading Statement
💡 23 Oct: River of Light – Liverpool’s free outdoor light festival returns to the waterfront with large-scale illuminated installations.
🕐 25 Oct: Clocks go back – British Summer Time ends, with the clocks going back one hour at 2am.
💷 28 Oct: UK Budget 2026 – Chancellor John Healey will set out the government’s tax and spending plans, alongside updated economic and fiscal forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
🎬 30 Oct: 4K cinema restorations – Pan’s Labyrinth celebrates its 20th anniversary with a 4K restoration from StudioCanal, while Donnie Darko gets a 25th anniversary 4K release from Arrow Films.
🎃 31 Oct: Halloween
…and if October isn’t far enough ahead for you… 👇
📆 PR CALENDAR 2026
…for the PRs who like to be three pitches ahead.
There’s plenty left on the calendar…
October’s nearly here, and the rest of 2026 is packed with moments you can build a story around. From major industry events and economic updates to big releases, sport and seasonal moments, our free PR Calendar gives you the dates worth knowing before they land.
Got something worth pitching?
Got a story, expert, case study or bit of data journalists should know about?
Head to the marketplace now or simply send it to pitches@synapse.media (or add us to your media list) and we’ll make sure it reaches the right journalists.
