Business and finance · Tier one
How to get featured in The Economist
How to get featured in The Economist: why most articles are unsigned staff work, how By Invitation and Letters work, and how to become a useful source.
- Website
- economist.com
- Owner
- The Economist Group
- Lead time
- Weekly print cycle with daily digital coverage. Being cited usually follows weeks or months of source relationships.
- Last verified
At a glance
Audience. Globally minded executives, policymakers, investors, and educated general readers following world affairs, business, and economics.
- World politics and policy
- Business
- Finance and economics
- Science and technology
- Geopolitics
- Data and graphics
- Staff reporting
- Articles are written by staff correspondents and published without bylines, organized by regional and subject sections.
- Contributed articles
- Outside writing appears mainly in the By Invitation section, which runs pieces by recognized experts; there is no open contributor program.
- Opinion and op-eds
- The Leaders section is the paper's own opinion. Outsiders can write Letters to the Editor responding to published articles, or appear in By Invitation.
- Press releases
- Press releases are not published. Correspondents may use them as background, but coverage comes from reporting and analysis.
Pitching The Economist, step by step
Accept that you are pitching to become a source, not to get a feature; most articles synthesize many sources.
Identify the section (Business, Finance and economics, Science and technology, a regional section) that would cover your topic.
Bring data, research, or a global trend that helps a correspondent explain how the world is changing.
Offer an executive or researcher for background briefings, not just quotes.
If a published article touches your field, consider a concise, substantive Letter to the Editor.
How The Economist decides what to cover
The Economist is unusual among tier-one outlets: its articles are written by staff and published without bylines, so the publication speaks with one voice. Coverage is organized into regional sections and subject sections such as Business, Finance and economics, and Science and technology, with the Leaders section setting out the paper’s own views. Stories tend to explain trends, policies, and markets across countries rather than profile individual companies.
That makes The Economist less a place to “get featured” and more a place to be cited. Companies appear when they illustrate a larger point about an industry, an economy, or a technology.
How to pitch The Economist
There is no public pitch inbox for company news. The practical route is to become a useful source for the correspondent covering your area. Identify the section and, where possible, the correspondent through the topics they write about and their public profiles. Offer something that helps explain a trend: proprietary data, research, an international comparison, or an executive who can brief on background.
Expect the relationship to take time. Correspondents speak to many people for a single article, and quotes are often brief or unattributed. A sustained, credible presence on a subject is worth more than a single pitch.
Contributed articles and op-eds
Two sections accept outside voices. By Invitation runs short opinion pieces by recognized experts writing within their field; it is editor-driven, as the name suggests, rather than an open submission desk. Letters to the Editor responds to published articles and is the one route any reader can use. A good letter is short, adds a fact or argument the article missed, and does not sell anything.
Frequently asked questions
Can you pay to be featured in The Economist?
No. Editorial content is staff-written. The Economist Group sells advertising and sponsored content separately, and it is labeled.
Does The Economist accept guest posts?
Only through By Invitation, which is editor-led, and Letters to the Editor.
Who should I pitch at The Economist?
The correspondent covering your sector or region, approached as a source with data or expertise rather than a story request.
A PR-led agency approaches The Economist by building long-term source credibility for executives and researchers rather than chasing a single placement. See how we handle media relations for global outlets.
Mistakes that get pitches ignored
- Expecting a profile of your company; The Economist rarely writes single-company puff pieces.
- Pitching national-only news with no global or economic significance.
- Letters that promote your business instead of engaging the argument.
- Asking for a byline in the main sections, which are staff-written.
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