About 21% of pitches submitted through HARO are flagged as fully AI-generated, and roughly 35% of journalists have chosen not to receive them. Here’s what that means if you’re using HARO to get media coverage.
If you’re a founder, marketer, or PR professional trying to get your company featured in the media, writing a strong pitch is only half the battle. The other challenge is making sure a journalist actually sees it.
Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Featured, says about 21% of pitches submitted through HARO score as fully AI-generated, while roughly 35% of journalists have opted out of receiving those submissions.
That creates a simple problem for anyone using HARO, Featured, or similar media-outreach platforms: if you copy a journalist’s query into ChatGPT and submit the response without adding your own expertise, your pitch may never reach a human.
Writing your response yourself has become a competitive advantage.
Farmiloe discussed the issue on Let’s Talk PR & More with Sherry Goldman, president of Goldman Communications Group.
Much of the conversation focused on what AI means for PR agencies. But there’s a more practical question for founders and marketers answering journalist queries themselves:
What should you actually do differently when pitching journalists?
Here’s what matters.
What does a 21% AI-generated rate mean for HARO pitches?
Pitches submitted through HARO, Connectively, and Featured run through AI detection. The resulting score is shown to journalists and is color-coded.
“And that AI detection essentially says, hey, was this human written or was it written by AI? And if it’s 100% score, which we see about 21% of the time, then we essentially can flag that for a journalist to look into further.” — Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Featured
Journalists also have a one-click option to filter out submissions that score as 100% AI-generated before they read them.
About 35% have enabled that filter.
Farmiloe believes the actual number of journalists who don’t want AI-generated pitches may be even higher because the option isn’t turned on by default:
“I’d say it’s even higher. Like I said, the submission form has that box unchecked by default.” — Brett Farmiloe
The takeaway for anyone pitching journalists
If you paste a journalist’s query into an AI chatbot and submit the response as-is, roughly a third of journalists using the filter may never see your pitch.
That’s different from a journalist reading your response and deciding not to use it.
Your expertise, credentials, and relevance may never be evaluated because the pitch was filtered before a human saw it.
This isn’t really an argument about whether AI is good or bad.
It’s a deliverability problem.
Do journalists still want pitches from small businesses?
Yes.
And that’s important news for founders and small businesses trying to get media coverage.
Farmiloe described two groups of journalists. One group uses AI detection to filter out submissions. The other is primarily interested in finding the best source for a story.
“And then you’ve got the journalists who actually optimize for getting connected with the best source for their story, and they don’t care if that initial response was AI generated as long as they get connected with someone that they could speak with.” — Brett Farmiloe
In other words, AI-generated pitches aren’t universally rejected.
But if some journalists are filtering them, there’s little upside to taking the risk.
A genuinely useful, relevant response can reach both groups. A generic AI-generated response may only reach one.
Why journalist relevance matters more than ever
Journalists aren’t necessarily short on potential sources. They’re short on time.
Farmiloe relayed one line from a journalist that captures the dynamic:
“I don’t want to hear from you until I want to hear from you.” — a journalist, quoted by Brett Farmiloe
A journalist query is effectively an invitation.
They’re telling you exactly what they need, when they need it.
That’s why responding to relevant media queries can be so valuable for founders and subject-matter experts. Instead of cold-pitching a journalist and hoping they have a story that needs you, you’re responding to an active request for expertise.
How should you write a HARO pitch?
Farmiloe’s framework is the HARO name itself:
Helpful.
Authentic.
Relevant.
On time.
Here’s what those principles look like in practice.
1. Be helpful
Answer the question the journalist actually asked.
If the query is about hiring mistakes, don’t use your response to pitch your software product. Give the journalist a useful perspective on hiring mistakes.
The goal isn’t to promote your company.
The goal is to give the journalist something worth publishing.
2. Be authentic
Your experience is your competitive advantage.
Farmiloe recommends using “the humanity that you have instead of the AI generation tools at your disposal.”
Think about what happened at your company last quarter. What surprised you? What did you learn? What mistake did you make? What result did you see?
Those details are what make an expert quote interesting.
AI can generate a polished answer. It can’t replace your firsthand experience.
3. Be relevant
Read the query carefully and follow the journalist’s instructions.
Farmiloe’s advice is straightforward:
“Look at the instructions that a journalist has put out there and follow those instructions to a T.”
If the journalist asks for two sentences, write two sentences.
If they ask for your name, title, company, and website, provide all four.
If they ask for a specific example, give them one.
Making a journalist dig through a long response to find your answer reduces the chance they’ll use it.
4. Be on time
Journalists work on deadlines.
Farmiloe puts it simply:
“Know that a journalist is on deadline. The quicker and faster that you could help them do their job, the better.”
This creates an obvious tension: how do you respond quickly while still writing the pitch yourself?
The answer is to respond to fewer queries.
Is quality more important than pitch volume?
Yes.
Farmiloe argues that one of the biggest misconceptions about platforms like HARO is that media pitching is a numbers game.
“I think that the misconception that a lot of PR pros sometimes have when they approach a platform like HARO is that it’s a numbers game.” — Brett Farmiloe
It’s tempting to send dozens of AI-generated responses because AI makes volume easy.
But getting media coverage isn’t simply about how many pitches you send.
It’s about whether you’re the right source for the story.
Three thoughtful responses from a genuinely relevant expert can be more valuable than 30 generic pitches.
For founders without a large PR budget, that’s good news.
You don’t necessarily need a PR team to start building media relationships. You need expertise, judgment, and the discipline to answer the right queries well.
Does a small media placement actually help with SEO and AI search?
This is where earned media gets particularly interesting for businesses focused on SEO.
For years, companies have chased the biggest publications and the highest-authority websites they could get.
But the way people discover information is changing.
Farmiloe described the evolution this way:
“The front page used to be the newspaper and then it was a search engine result page and now it’s a AI answer summary.” — Brett Farmiloe
That raises a new question for businesses trying to build visibility online:
Does the publication that mentions your company get cited by AI search engines?
If so, a smaller niche publication may be more valuable than its size suggests.
Farmiloe gave the example of a niche publication in Spain:
“The TechCrunch journalist that she once pitched, it might just be as valuable to approach the mom and pop blog that’s based out of Spain.” — Brett Farmiloe
The question isn’t simply whether the website has a high domain authority.
It’s whether the publication gets discovered, referenced, and cited in the answers your potential customers are seeing.
How to find publications worth pitching
You can research this yourself.
Start by asking AI search tools questions your customers might ask about your industry:
- What are the best [product/service] options for [audience]?
- What should businesses know before buying [product/service]?
- Who are the leading companies in [industry]?
- What are the biggest trends in [industry]?
- What tools do [target customers] use for [problem]?
Look at which publications and websites appear in the answers.
Then add relevant publications to your media target list—even if you’ve never heard of them.
Your goal isn’t simply to get mentioned in a famous publication. It’s to get mentioned in places that influence how your audience—and increasingly, AI search engines—understand your category.
Why consistent media coverage matters more than one big placement
A single feature in a major publication can be valuable.
But Farmiloe argues that businesses shouldn’t overlook the cumulative effect of multiple earned-media placements.
“But what really makes your business is a continuation of all of these earned media hits that now accumulate into the big win.” — Brett Farmiloe
That’s an important shift for companies investing in PR and SEO.
Instead of waiting for one enormous publication to transform your visibility, build a steady stream of relevant coverage.
A quote in a niche industry publication.
Then another.
Then an interview.
Then a contributed article.
Over time, those mentions create a broader footprint for your brand.
What should you do after a journalist quotes you?
Getting published isn’t necessarily the end of the relationship.
It’s the beginning.
Farmiloe has asked journalists how many sources of income they have. The common answer, he says, is multiple revenue streams:
“The common answer that I get holds two hands up, eight fingers.” — Brett Farmiloe
Many journalists are building newsletters, Substacks, consulting businesses, and audiences of their own.
That changes what you should do after getting quoted.
Farmiloe describes publication as:
“A starting point, not a finish line anymore when the story actually gets published.” — Brett Farmiloe
So when a journalist features you:
- Share the article on your social channels.
- Add your own perspective rather than simply posting the link.
- Send it to your email list if it’s relevant.
- Subscribe to the journalist’s newsletter or Substack if they have one.
- Thank the journalist.
- Keep the relationship warm without immediately asking for another favor.
The next time that journalist needs an expert source, you don’t want to be a stranger in their inbox.
How should PR agencies approach AI search?
The same principles apply to agencies and communications teams, but there’s an additional opportunity.
Farmiloe says clients increasingly ask:
“How do I appear in AI?”
The problem is that many agencies don’t yet have their own case studies showing clients how to improve AI visibility.
His solution is straightforward: become the case study.
Run experiments on your own company.
Track which publications mention you.
Monitor how your brand appears in AI-generated answers.
Measure changes over time.
Then use those results to inform your client strategy.
Farmiloe also referenced the RPIE framework associated with APR accreditation: research, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
His criticism is that PR teams often jump straight to implementation.
The same applies to media pitching.
Before responding to a journalist query, research the journalist.
Read their recent articles. Understand what they cover. Look at the kinds of sources they quote.
Then write a response that actually fits their work.
5 things to change in your media pitching strategy this week
1. Stop submitting AI-generated pitches without adding your own expertise.
Some journalists are filtering them out before they ever reach a human.
2. Focus on quality over volume.
Answer fewer queries, but make each response genuinely useful.
3. Follow the journalist’s instructions exactly.
Make your answer easy to use.
4. Research which publications appear in AI search results.
Don’t automatically dismiss smaller niche publications.
5. Treat media coverage as the beginning of a relationship.
Share the story, support the journalist, and stay on their radar.
The takeaway: Write better pitches, not more pitches
AI has made it incredibly easy to produce a media pitch.
That’s exactly why a thoughtful, human response can stand out.
As Farmiloe puts it:
“Focusing on quality relationships with journalists, focusing on replying back to queries that are relevant to clients, I think those are the PR professionals that are winning in today’s environment.” — Brett Farmiloe, founder and CEO of Featured
The tools got cheaper.
Judgment didn’t.
For businesses looking to get media coverage, improve brand visibility, and build authority across search and AI platforms, that’s the opportunity.
Don’t try to win by sending more pitches.
Win by becoming the source a journalist actually wants to quote.
Brett Farmiloe is the founder and CEO of Featured, which owns and operates HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Connectively. He spoke with Sherry Goldman, president of Goldman Communications Group, on Let’s Talk PR & More. Listen to the full conversation here.