Most journalists don’t have a very flexible schedule. They have regular deadlines to meet, whether they are daily, weekly, monthly, or at irregular intervals. That is not always the case for athletes, in any sport. With horses, plans often change minute-to-minute. Show jumping tournaments, unlike some other sporting events, often don’t operate on a rigid schedule.
However, if you want media coverage for yourself or for your sport, be prepared to live by the journalist’s schedule. If you make a commitment to do an interview or cooperate with any media request, don’t take the timing lightly. By the time they book your time, they probably have a significant investment made. That investment may be simply the journalist’s time. It may be travel expenses to meet with you. It may be space they have reserved in their publication and there will be no time to fill it with something equivalent if you cancel. They may already have invested money in photos of you and need an interview to go with them.
If you want to keep a lose and casual schedule, it might suit your own lifestyle. But if you schedule something with the media, keep a strict schedule and always be on time.
Their deadlines are based on technical requirements of either printing a publication or editing a show for broadcast. Both are expensive undertakings.
Put yourself in their position. what if someone reserved your time or equipment and then cancelled? This is just another important reason to understand what journalists do and how the media works. If they want your time they are making an investment in you. If you respect their schedule, they will want to cover you again. If you don’t, you will reduce your chances of more coverage in the future.
