Winning National Media for a Story That Was “Already Covered”

How do you put a fresh spin on a story the media has already widely covered?

When Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho released The People vs. The Golden State Killer, the killer’s notoriety and the success of similar books like Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark served as both an opportunity and a challenge.

Rather than rehashing the crimes or focusing on the killer, Ho’s book offered something new: his own firsthand account as the lead prosecutor who helped bring the case to justice. Ho’s never-before-seen case details re-sparked media interest — and together we created the perfect angle to fan the flames.

A Fresh Perspective on a Familiar Case 

We positioned the book as the completion of this notorious case: shifting the narrative away from the killer’s notoriety and towards survivors, their families and the law enforcement professionals who never gave up. We also researched reporters who had covered the Golden State Killer following his arrest in 2018.

This critical reframing enabled us to re-approach the media with a persuasive answer to the question every editor asks: what’s new here? And the media jumped on board.

High-Impact Media Results 

The campaign secured coverage from mainstream media such as CNN, The Guardian, People (featured four times), Yahoo News, MSN News and A&E TV True Crime Blog.

The book received high-visibility coverage from literary outlets like Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Book Riot. Naturally, it also blew up in the true crime and pop culture sphere: Radar’s Keeping Tabs blog, Mind Over Murder, Crossing the Line, Mother Knows Death, Hidden Killers, True Murder, NewsNation, Darkness Radio and House of Mystery.

The campaign was also huge with California media, due to the case’s lasting impact on local communities (The Pacifican, Ventura County Sun, Sacramento News and Review, KVPR, KFBK, ABC 10, FOX 40, KCRA 3, CBS Sacramento, ABC 10, Capitol Public Radio (NPR), FOX 2, KOMO News, Ventura County Star, San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly and The Santa Barbara Independent).

The Takeaway

“Already covered” doesn’t mean “no longer relevant.” With the right framing, thoughtful targeting and a clear sense of what makes a perspective unique, we can get fresh national attention for even the most extensively-reported subjects.