How to Build a Media List with Email Extraction

Start with the story and the publication

A useful media list records which publication covers your subject, which reporter works on that beat and how the outlet asks to receive pitches. It is not simply a collection of every address found on a staff page.

Choose a specific story or announcement first. Read recent coverage to confirm relevance, then check the current author profile, newsroom contact page or published pitch instructions.

Distinguish contact types

A journalist's published address, a news tips inbox, an advertising contact and a press-release issuer's PR address serve different purposes. Do not label the contact at the bottom of a company press release as the journalist who covered it.

Some outlets prefer a form or a shared editorial inbox. That may be a better channel than an old personal address. A public listing does not prove willingness to receive every kind of pitch.

Extract selected page content

Open Email Extractor and choose Webpages. Enter the relevant public URLs, select the page scope, review and allow downloading, then click Load webpages. Click Extract emails after loading and inspect the sources.

The limits are 10 websites and 25 pages per website. Entering exact staff or profile pages keeps the search focused; a same-site scan does not guarantee every author page will be visited.

If a page is accessible only after you open it, capture readable content with the optional extension or paste it into Text and files. Inaccessible or unloaded profile content is not automatically included.

For permitted PDF or spreadsheet directories, upload supported files through Text and files and click Extract emails. The limits are 25 MB per file and 100 MB per batch.

Build a reviewed media worksheet

Download CSV with sources and add verified reporter name, publication, beat, source date, pitch guidance and contact status. Resolve those fields from the original pages; the extractor does not associate every address with a name automatically.

If several addresses occur on the page, confirm which one belongs to the intended contact. Keep general editorial channels where the publication explicitly recommends them instead of automatically deleting role-based addresses.

Maintain the list and respect preferences

Before reuse, check whether the reporter still covers the relevant topic and whether the contact instructions changed. Keep previous objections or opt-outs when refreshing the worksheet.

A relevant pitch should state the news accurately and explain why it fits the publication. Do not claim to have met a reporter or read an article you have not read. Use the outlet's preferred format rather than a universal attachment or word-count rule.

There is no guaranteed number of contacts, completion time or response-rate advantage for a manually built list. Its value comes from the accuracy of the research. See role-based addresses and the privacy guide for additional review considerations.