How to Pitch The Debrief

The Debrief is always looking for fellow rebellious minds with ideas for engaging news articles, features, and in-depth investigations.

Our fundamental belief is that tomorrow’s world is built on today’s progress and imagination. We explore and report on science, technology, space travel, futurism, and knowledge that exists on the periphery of our current human understanding.

 

What we are looking for

The Debrief cares about how science and technology will change the lives of real people in the future. We love stories about innovators, revolutionary thinkers, off-the-rail ideas, and the leading edge of science, technology, space, and futurism. We also welcome original reporting on breaking news and investigations.

Here are some themes we like and articles about them to help give you an idea:

…or anything about the future that you think would be a great story.

 

How to pitch us

When pitching your article idea, please enclose your proposed headline, a few sentences about the story and anyone you plan to interview, a rough word count, and a general timeframe for a deadline.

 

Example of what a standard article pitch should look like

Tentative Headline: “Meet the Man Who Lives in the Woods and Invented Space Travel Using Wormholes”

Story Pitch/Summary: In this story, I will explain a new patent that just showed up online concerning the invention of a “wormhole drive.” The inventor is very eccentric and he lives in a cabin in the Appalachian mountains, and has been constructing this device for several years. I will interview him for the story, along with an engineer from Penn State who will offer her expert opinion on some of his ideas.

Word Count: 1,200

Deadline: Friday, August 25, 2021

 

Debriefs: Short News Pieces

For shorter articles, which we call “Debriefs”, we follow a simple format consisting of an introductory lede, followed by sections titled Background, Analysis, and Outlook, which flesh out the main points of the story. The typical word count for our Debriefs is 500 words, and we welcome submissions for these shorter format articles as well, and the best way to get a feel for these articles and their format is to read them on our site.

 

Other things you will probably need for your pitch

Familiarity: We ask that you read The Debrief. Our approach is different from other outlets, and becoming familiar with our editorial style is easier than relying on us to tell you what we want.

Proof: hard data, documents, quotes from experts, leaked files from some foreign embassy containing information about a weird new weapon that will blow up the world.

Visuals: Images that you think NEED to be in the article, such as graphs or photographs.

 

Email your pitches to micah@thedebrief.org

Rates are negotiable based on the story, word count, and research.