Journalists are back, and there are plenty of reasons to get to work. Don’t worry, of course we can help.
So this week, we’re giving you a fresh look at what journalists actually want right now, the live requests worth knowing about, and the PR and media bits you might’ve missed.
Oh, and if you’re already thinking further ahead, we’ve still got your FREE PR Calendar packed with hooks for the rest of 2026. Why? Because December will somehow be here in about five minutes.
Right, here’s a brand new “The Loop” 👇
🔥 MUST READ PR TIP
…because the best PR advice comes straight from the people who know
PR consultant and MAVN founder Courtney Cole has spent years submitting FOI requests, and her biggest lesson is a useful one for anyone running data-led campaigns: start with the story, not the data.
“I start with: ‘What would a journalist actually care about?’ Then I work backwards to find the data.”
It’s easy to start an FOI campaign by thinking about what data you can get. But a big number doesn’t automatically make a good story. Courtney advises starting with the headline you’d actually want to see published, then work backwards to figure out the data you need to make it happen.
👉 Read Courtney’s full LinkedIn post
🗞️ PR-Y STUFF
The PR and media bits worth knowing this week
- Tech sites remove articles after questions over journalists’ identities – Press Gazette has raised questions over four prolific finance and tech writers whose identities publications have been unable to verify. Hacker Noon and Information Age have since removed articles, adding to growing concerns around fake profiles, questionable earned media and the need to verify who’s actually behind a byline. read more
- Quotes now need to survive two edits – AI summaries are adding another layer between what your client says and what audiences actually see. Guy Clapperton says that quotes now need to survive both human editing and AI summarisation, making short and clear soundbites more important than ever. read more
- Farage funding scandal puts political comms under the spotlight – PRmoment looks at the fallout from Channel 4’s Reform UK funding sting, with Angie Moxham and Mark Borkowski debating whether Nigel Farage can bounce back. They also give Andy Burnham’s first six weeks in Downing Street a comms review, from his social media presence to his “man of the people” style. listen to the episode
- Entertainment PR is moving beyond press coverage – PRWeek’s Beyond the Noise podcast looks at how entertainment PR is shifting away from traditional media coverage as the main goal. Gaby Jerrard and Lawrence Francis discuss the rise of streaming, social-first fandoms like BookTok and why reaching audiences in the right communities can matter more than landing another press mention. listen to the episode
- How many PRs vs journalists are there in the UK? – New BuzzStream research estimates there were around 52,400 journalists and 78,800 PR professionals in the UK in 2025. The journalist figure appears to have fallen 11% since 2021, although issues with the underlying ONS data mean the trend isn’t quite as clear-cut as it looks. read more
👀 WHAT JOURNALISTS WANT
Your weekly look at what journalists are asking for on Synapse
TRENDING SECTORS THIS WEEK
- Lifestyle – 31%
- Home & Garden – 23%
- Health – 19%
- Arts & Entertainment – 15%
- Real Life – 12%
💡Something we spotted…
Lifestyle takes the top spot this week, appearing in almost a third of requests. Home & Garden and Health weren’t far behind either, with journalists looking for everything from expert comments to real-life case studies. Based on journalist requests posted on Synapse from 31 August – 7 September.
🔎 LIVE JOURNO REQUESTS
Here’s what journalists are currently looking for on Synapse:
Newsquest:
Mirror Online:
- Looking to speak to a psychic/astrologer about the Harvest moon. I want predictions for each star sign, if possible. – Mirror Online
- Multimedia Journalist – Introduction Request – Daily Mail Social Video – UK & Money
Reach PLC:
- How to keep potatoes, bread, berries, bananas fresh for longer, food storage hacks (experts only with proof of qualification) – Daily Express
- Your legal rights if your neighbour blocks you in/has overgrown hedge/is loud between 11pm-7am – what you can do etc
Freelance:
- Brand/influencer/PR people for who can talk about Carrie Johnson’s growing presence in the lifestyle/wellness space! – The i Paper
- Looking for brand partners for Living360 campaign on women and ADHD – Living360
- 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.
🎬 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: Sep 2026
💰 22 Oct: LSE Group Q3 Trading Statement
…and if October isn’t far enough ahead for you… 👇
📆 PR CALENDAR 2026
…for the PRs who like to be three pitches ahead.
Five months and a lot of reasons to pitch.
From September to December, our free PR Calendar rounds up the dates worth having on your radar, just so you can plan ahead instead of spotting the perfect hook when everyone else is already pitching it.
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.
