Welsh media outreach and the Senedd, what Cardiff newsrooms need

What to take away

What Cardiff newsrooms expect from a devolved policy story

Cardiff is a capital city with a national parliament, a government and a national broadcaster all within a short walk of each other. That changes what a newsroom wants from a pitch.

A Cardiff reporter covering health, education or transport is not asking whether the story matters across the UK. They are asking what the Senedd and Welsh Government have decided, who is affected in Wales, and what happens next in the devolved settlement.

So lead with the devolved decision. Name the minister, the portfolio and the document. If your announcement responds to a Welsh Government consultation, say which one and when it closed.

Give the reader a person. A named case study in Cardiff, Swansea or a Valleys community is worth more to a Welsh newsroom than a national statistic with no local face on it.

Expect scrutiny of anything that touches public money. Welsh public bodies, health boards and councils are covered closely, and a claim about savings or jobs will be checked against published figures.

If you are new to pitching outside London, the mechanics are similar to getting into regional media elsewhere in the UK, but the devolved layer is what makes Wales different.

The Senedd and Welsh Government as story sources

The Senedd is the elected body that makes law for Wales in the devolved areas. The Welsh Government is the administration that proposes and runs policy. Both generate a steady flow of citable material.

Plenary debates, committee evidence sessions and written statements are all public. A committee inquiry into a sector you represent is a legitimate hook, especially when it is taking written evidence.

For a concrete Senedd starting point, check the Petitions Committee's published work and relevant Senedd Research briefings alongside current committee agendas. Where relevant, these can provide a named public concern, inquiry or policy background for a pitch.

Ministers make announcements through statements, press notices and publications rather than through one single daily briefing. That means the paper trail is your friend, and it is also your competition.

When you pitch, be precise about the stage of the process. Is this a consultation, a response to a consultation, a draft strategy, a final strategy or a commencement order? Reporters will ask, and a vague answer kills the pitch.

Avoid claiming that a Welsh Government policy applies in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Devolved policy diverges, and getting that wrong marks you as an outsider.

The same discipline applies to any sector with reserved and devolved elements. Policing, justice and most taxation are reserved. Health, education, housing and much of transport are devolved.

BBC Cymru Wales, ITV Cymru Wales and the Western Mail compared

These three outlets sit at the centre of Welsh national coverage, and they do not want the same package.

BBC Cymru Wales runs Welsh-language and English-language output, so a story can be carried in both. That raises the value of having Welsh-language material ready.

ITV Cymru Wales works to fixed bulletin deadlines and needs pictures. If you can offer filming access, a location and a willing interviewee, you are easier to say yes to.

The Western Mail is a print and online title with a political focus. It will use the document you cite, so send the link and the page number rather than a paraphrase.

None of this replaces the trade and hyperlocal titles that cover Cardiff Bay, the city council and the health boards. A national outlet may pass, and a specialist title may still run it.

Beyond the three outlets above, consider WalesOnline and the South Wales Echo for local digital and print angles, and Nation.Cymru for Welsh-focused online coverage. For Welsh-language audiences, include Golwg360, BBC Radio Cymru and S4C; check each outlet's format and offer suitable Welsh-language copy, interviewees or visuals.

If you are deciding between a wire-style send and individual approaches, the trade-offs are set out in which works better in the UK.

Bilingual release requirements for Welsh media outreach

Welsh-language media outreach is not a translation afterthought. Welsh-language outlets such as Golwg360, BBC Radio Cymru and S4C need Welsh-language material; English-language outlets may also use the Welsh names of public bodies or schemes.

The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 established the Welsh Language Commissioner and the framework for Welsh Language Standards. Those standards apply to organisations subject to them, including relevant public bodies; check the applicable requirements rather than assuming every organisation has a legal duty to issue a bilingual release. For other organisations, a Welsh-language version can still make a pitch more useful to Welsh-language media.

The Welsh Language Commissioner oversees the standards framework. For a public body, check the standards and any compliance notice that applies; for other organisations, its published approach to Welsh can be a useful practical benchmark.

Do not treat a Welsh headline as decoration. If the Welsh version contradicts the English one on a number, you have handed a reporter a reason to call you.

Sourcing stories from the GOV.WALES publications archive

Most Welsh Government material that journalists quote is published, and it is searchable. Before you pitch, search the publications archive for the relevant consultation, statistics release, strategy or impact assessment.

You can filter by topic, minister or date. That is where you find the document your announcement is responding to, and where you find the figure that makes your case checkable.

Worked example. A Cardiff housing association wants coverage of a new affordable homes scheme. Instead of a general release about housing need, the team searches the archive for the Welsh Government's most recent housing statistics and the relevant local authority target.

The pitch then says: this scheme contributes a stated number of homes against the target in that published document, at a named site, with a named tenant willing to speak. The Western Mail gets a document. BBC Cymru Wales gets a family and a street. ITV Cymru Wales gets pictures.

The archive also contains material that is easy to miss, including statutory statements and corporate publications. The Welsh Government Modern Slavery Statement is a good example of a devolved policy document that can support a business, supply chain or procurement story with a Welsh angle.

Build a habit of checking the archive before you write, not after a reporter asks you for the source. It takes ten minutes and it changes the pitch.

Pitch timing around Welsh Government announcements

Welsh Government announcements shape the diary. If a minister is already announcing something in your sector, your story will struggle for space on the same day.

Aim to pitch on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday morning, when newsrooms are staffed and the week's diary is not yet full. Monday is crowded with catch-up, and Friday output is thin.

Recurring Welsh political fixtures matter too. Check the Senedd's published plenary calendar and committee agendas, alongside GOV.WALES publication notices and consultation closing dates, before choosing a pitch day. These are more useful diary markers than relying on a general assumption about the election cycle.

If you have advance notice of a government announcement in your area, you have two options. Pitch the same week with a complementary angle, or wait a few days and offer the follow-up that the announcement did not answer.

The second option is often stronger. Reporters need the after-story: what the change means for a named employer, a patient, a parent or a council budget.

Have your facts, your Welsh-language version and your contact details ready before you send. If you want the email itself to do more work, the structure in how to pitch journalists is a sound starting point.

For anything involving personal data, remember that UK GDPR and the Information Commissioner's Office apply across Wales as they do elsewhere in the UK. Case studies need consent, and consent needs to be recorded.

If your story involves a regulated sector, check whether the Advertising Standards Authority and the CAP Code, the Financial Conduct Authority or Ofcom have a say in how the claim can be made. Welsh coverage is not exempt from UK regulation.

Finally, keep a Cardiff contact who can answer the phone. The GOV.WALES contact details page is the model for how a public body publishes its own routes in, and your release should be at least as clear about who to call.

Common questions