Journalist (Database) Search & Tips for Better Results

Use Propel's Discover Tab to Find the Right Contacts to Pitch

Watch our video guide for a clear, step-by-step explanation:

To access Propel's Media Database, click on the Discover tab.

Using the Journalist Search

Only show verified contacts

Prompt

Prompt allows you to leverage AI to find the most accurate results possible. This can be based on a pitch, press release, description of your news, or key phrases. When you hit Search, you will get two types of results:

1. High Reasoning AI: Propel’s advanced AI search uses contextual understanding rather than just keyword matching to surface the most relevant journalists, even for complex or niche topics. It analyzes your full prompt and applies high-reasoning logic to deliver top-tier matches. For the top 50 results, clicking on "Why Me?" provides clear reasoning behind each match, offering full transparency and confidence in the selection.
2. Rapid AI: Propel’s AI matching technology leverages the latest in vectors and embedding rather than traditional text-based search to give better results. The filter cross-references the Journalist profile, Articles written, and Industry of choice to deliver highly accurate results. Hover over the question mark for more information. To provide the most relevant matches, the results are restricted to 200 journalists.
3. Keyword Powered Results: If you'd like to go the more conventional way, you can switch to Keyword Results, which will show all journalists who have written on the topics mentioned in the Prompt.

Exclude Topic Keywords

Use this field to exclude specific keywords from your journalist search results. For example, if you're searching for "Super Bowl" but want to avoid any results related to restaurants, simply exclude "restaurants" as a keyword.

Name and Outlet Name

One of the ways to search the media database is when you know which journalist(s) you're looking for. Let’s say you know the journalist you want to pitch, but you don’t have her contact info. Or you have a specific media outlet you would like to target, but you don't know the title and contact info of each journalist there. In these cases, the journalist search is for you.

Additional filters

To narrow your search results, there are several types of filters you can use: 

• Classification
  • All
  • Trade - B2B
  • Consumer - B2C
• Reach
• Outlet prominence
• Job title
• Location (city, state, country)
• Contact Details
  • Email
  • Phone
• Social Username
• Language

Adding Journalists to a Media List

Once you've identified the journalists you need, check them off or select all and click on  Add to Media List. You can also create a new media list on the fly!

Tips and Tricks for Effective Journalist Search

• Type in your relevant keywords or paste your pitch/press release in the “Topic Prompt” field to get the top 200 journalists writing about those topics. No more spray and pray!

• Our High Reasoning AI model deeply understands your prompt and delivers the most relevant journalist matches. Click the "Why Me?" to see exactly why the top 50 made it to the list.

• Our Rapid AI model leverages an advanced AI algorithm to give you the best journalists writing about your beats. Click the Relevant Articles option to see the top 3 articles that brought them to your list.

• The Keyword Search works on a traditional search mechanism and is best suited for broader topics.

• For using multiple keywords, put a comma between each one.

• Unsure about the name of a Journalist or an Outlet? Uncheck the "Exact Match" box on top of the Name filter.

• You can also exclude keywords, which is a valuable way to narrow the search.