Can AI Really Build a Better Media List?
How a Curated Media List (and an iPad) Helped Me Land a Broadcast Hit During a Coup d'État
In the early days of The Accidental Publicist’s career, media list-building looked very different. At my first PR job with a top five publisher, the office kept a literal tin box filled with index cards detailing media contacts. For broader outreach, I later turned to a softcover directory: the legendary Bacon’s Media Directory, which cataloged journalists by beat and outlet, long before “data enrichment” became a tech term. (Yes, that Bacon’s… the precursor to Cision.)
That was the golden age of analog publicity, and while time-consuming, the process was deeply personal. Publicists relied on relationships, instincts, and yes, the occasional fax machine.
Fast forward to today: we’re inundated with tools that claim to build media lists in seconds. AI-driven platforms scrape, filter, and sort journalist profiles faster than you can spell “hyper-targeted.” But are these tools helping or are they just generating more noise?
The Accidental Publicist asked PR professionals in Facebook’s PR, Marketing and Media Czars private group for their insights.
How are you building your media lists in the AI age?
🔧 Still Hand-Curating and Proud of It
For many seasoned pros, there’s no substitute for the human touch.
L.A. Berry, founder of She Rocks & Rides, with five decades in journalism and publicity, put it bluntly:
“I have no intentions of ceasing hand-curation. PR is first and foremost about human connection. AI isn't going to recall the nuance of knowing the personal accomplishments of the people I court and woo. You know what works? Pick up a phone and have a real conversation.”
Heidi Vanderlee, owner of Positive Jam PR, agrees.
“The data these tools pull from is already so flawed. I spend more time fixing anything automated than I would just doing it manually.”
Kathleen Schmidt, president of KMSPR and author of the uber popular Publishing Confidential, keeps her process hands-on:
“I’m still hand-curating.”
The consensus? Automation might be fast, but it often fumbles on context, tone, and timeliness; everything PR success hinges on.
🤖 The Hybrid Approach: Use the Tool, Not the Rule
Other pros are exploring ways to merge AI’s efficiency with human discernment.
Tianna Robinson, founder of Intertwined Agency and creator of AI tools for comms pros, advocates a blended model:
“Smart tools like Propel and scraping platforms can complement your strategy, but they don’t replace the intuition or cultural context required for thoughtful curation. I let AI do the heavy lifting, then hand-select key contacts based on tone, beat, and brand alignment.”
Morey Altman echoed this:
“I still hand-curate, but I use ChatGPT to help find industry-specific publications I may not know. It even helped me connect a client’s work to renewable energy—a creative angle that landed us a no-fee contributed piece. So it’s useful, but not for lists.”
Even as AI shows promise in ideation and exploration, it’s rarely trusted to generate outreach-ready contact lists.
😬 Where AI Falls Short (For Now)
Nicole Pyles, a top Czars contributor, tested AI for podcast research:
“It often recommends shows that aren’t active or don’t exist. So, I definitely build lists manually.”
Karla Cobreiro, founder of Cobreiro Comms, tried automating list-building with ChatGPT and others:
“By the time I finish editing and correcting the results, I could’ve built the list faster (and more accurately) from scratch. Even the best AI doesn’t have the context a human does. Editors may have left, but their content is still live—something AI rarely catches.”
Tanya Khani experimented with whether clients could bypass PR pros entirely using AI tools:
“You might get names and LinkedIn links, but not how they like to be pitched. I haven’t seen real contact details or pitch preferences pulled accurately. So I verify everything manually.”
Judy Rusk Schmidt, a solo consultant, summed it up:
“I tried using AI to build a media list for a market I didn’t know, but I still had to figure out the real contacts. Assignment editors weren’t even showing up in the results.”
🛰️ Case Study: When Cision Saved My Bacon in Peru (with a Little Help from Me)
Let’s be clear: Cision is only as good as the publicist using it. It’s not magic. It’s not a replacement for relationships or research. But if you’ve taken the time to properly build and curate lists, it can deliver when it counts.
The Accidental Publicist uses Cision’s international database because many of our clients operate across borders. I build curated global broadcast lists, anticipating moments when geography might create opportunity.
That moment came during a political crisis in Peru.
While working with a Canadian company with lithium projects in both Peru and the U.S., I got a call from the company’s COO. The CEO was in Lima when Peru’s president attempted to dissolve Congress; triggering what The New York Times described as a coup d'état. The country was in chaos. A national curfew was imposed. And the CEO was there, on the ground, overseeing operations.
Just as the COO asked if I could get him on-air to discuss the unfolding crisis, my desktop PC began crashing. Total tech meltdown. Stress levels at eleven.
But because I had already built a vetted, international broadcast list in Cision—curated in advance and updated regularly, I didn’t (totally) panic. I grabbed my iPad Pro, logged into the Cision online platform, and got to work. Within minutes, I was pulling the right contacts and rolling out a targeted email pitch:
“[CEO] is in Lima right now—overseeing operations and witnessing Peru’s latest political upheaval firsthand. He’s a seasoned executive with over 25 years’ experience in energy, mining, and capital markets, and has been featured on CNBC Europe and sourced by Reuters. He’s available until midnight local time.”
Within an hour, he was booked for an interview with CNBC Asia. Other international outlets came knocking, too, but they had to be turned down. The CEO was already heading to the airport, trying to get out of Dodge.
Cision didn’t land that interview on its own. I did, with foresight, strategy, and a well-built list ready before the chaos hit. But having an online database at my fingertips, accessible from any device, meant I could act fast when every second counted.
That said, Cision or any media database is only as good as the data we feed it. I don’t rely blindly on what’s there. I curate and vet my own lists. The platform is a foundation, not a finished product.
🧠 AI + Media Databases: Better, Faster, Smarter?
Media databases like Cision, Muck Rack, and newer platforms like Propel are all touting their AI capabilities but what does that mean for those of us in the trenches of media list-building?
Let’s start with CisionOne, the company’s next-gen platform. It promises AI-assisted journalist discovery, enhanced contact suggestions, and smarter list-building rooted in machine learning. But here’s the rub: many longtime users, The Accidental Publicist included, are still on the legacy platform. Despite paying a premium annual fee, we’re stuck with outdated user experience (UX), limited contextual search, and Boolean filters that feel like digital duct tape. The technology may be evolving, but the user experience feels frozen in 2017.
Muck Rack, more agile by design, uses AI to track journalist beat changes, auto-generate coverage reports, and send smart alerts when a reporter shifts roles or topics. Propel goes even further, leveraging AI to analyze pitch performance, learn from engagement rates, and adjust future outreach strategies based on what resonates.
In theory, these tools should make media list-building faster, cleaner, and more intelligent. For years, the search functionalities in these platforms have been blunt instruments; filter by beat, outlet, or geography and brace for a tidal wave of semi-relevant contacts. AI is supposed to sharpen the lens, reading between the lines of bylines, social chatter, and even sentiment to surface the right names at the right time.
But theory and reality often diverge.
These tools are still only as good as the data they’re built on. Outdated contacts, misattributed beats, or freelance journalists with multiple identities often throw the algorithm for a loop. AI may find a door but it doesn’t always know if it’s the right one to knock on.
Or as I like to put it:
“AI might help you find the door, but you still have to knock the right way.”
Bottom line? AI in media databases is an evolution not a revolution. It’s a useful accelerant, but not a substitute for strategic thinking, human judgment, or personalized pitching.
💡 Final Takeaway: AI Is a Tool, Not a Shortcut
There’s a tempting promise in AI: speed, scale, automation. But as of now, those advantages are offset by a glaring weakness—relevance. AI can’t build trust, follow industry gossip, or intuit that a certain health reporter also freelances for three niche sites and prefers pitches by text.
The Accidental Publicist has tested many of these new tools herself. Some are impressive with their speed to access data. Others are helpful for generating story angles or refreshing your knowledge of a new vertical. But none can fully replace the sweat equity of a thoughtfully built list. One where every name is hand-picked, every pitch is customized, and every relationship is nurtured.
In an era of cluttered inboxes and shrinking attention spans, relevance wins. And relevance still requires a human touch.
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