After my conversation with Tim Burrowes on Mumbrellacast, Mumbrella ran two responses critical of Drumbeat. One from Azadeh Williams of AZK Media, and one from Sean Sowerby of Sunday Gravy. I’m grateful to both for engaging!

Azadeh argued that the maths of replacing a PR agency with an AI tool doesn’t add up. Sean argued that the ease of using AI for pitching is bad news for the newsroom.

Here’s where I think they’re right, and where I see it differently.

Sean’s concern is that AI enables more businesses to write and send more media releases, at a time when newsrooms are shrinking.

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But the flood didn’t start with AI. The “spray and pray” approach with mass distribution lists and generic pitches was happening way before anyone was using Gen AI to help them.

So the question really is — what is an AI-enabled PR and comms tool like Drumbeat built to do?

If the purpose is to maximise sends, and hit every inbox of every journalist regardless of whether the release is relevant to them … well, Sean is right to worry.

If it’s built to narrow your media list, so your approach is highly targeted and you’re sending interesting and credible stories to relevant journalists — that’s fewer pitches,........

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