February 13, 2026

This week in the Echo Chamber:

🚨Read: Why comms pros don't guarantee coverage, and what reporter relationships actually achieve. Read more.

🎥Watch: City First Enterprises CEO Oswaldo Acosta on why climate finance is entering a new phase—and what it will take for CDFIs and green lenders to adapt, deploy capital effectively, and build long-term resilience. Watch the full Q&A.

📝Download: With the 2026 midterms approaching, energy affordability has become a decisive issue. A report from Echo, The 10 Energy Affordability Battlegrounds, breaks down the 10 states where rising electricity costs and data center growth could swing key races. Read the full report.

By Chris Moyer

“We’ll pay you $2,000 if you can get [reporter name] to run a story about us in the next two weeks,” a prospective client told me. The proposition immediately set off red flags.

After nearly 20 years in communications and media, my internal reaction was immediate: Do they really think that’s how this works? And if that’s how they understood earned media, what else would we be misaligned on in our work together? Any communications professional worth their salt will run from an arrangement where compensation is contingent on placement. While communications professionals work hard to shape coverage, we have no control over whether, when, or where a story gets published. (Try paid media if you desire such control.) I declined the offer.

Experienced communications professionals routinely tout their robust reporter relationships when talking with potential employers or clients, who view relationships as a must-have for any senior communications roles.

Our team is no different; we regularly emphasize our deep connections within the clean energy and climate media, from top-tier national outlets to well-read trade publications. But there is a persistent misunderstanding about what these relationships actually achieve. Some believe that if we know a reporter, they’ll automatically write the story we want. But those relationships just get us on base. It takes additional work to round the bases and score—to land the story.

The Benefits of Strong Reporter Relationships

Strong relationships help us know which stories reporters are likely going to be interested in. We know what they’ve covered before, what their general approach is on a subject, and whether a pitch is likely to turn out well for our client. But just because we know a reporter doesn’t mean they’re going to write a story for us out of the goodness of their heart. They have editors to answer to and general editorial standards they must adhere to. The pitch must be newsworthy and the right fit for the outlet. 

Having a relationship with a reporter means they’re more likely to respond to you. We have their phone number and can call or text them, not having to worry about our message being missed in their overflowing inboxes. They may tell us why they’re not interested in a story, which can be incredibly helpful. We can often get an answer more quickly. If we’re offering an exclusive story, it’s helpful to get swift responses if the answer is no, as it allows us to move on to another reporter in a timely fashion. The reporter who knows us doesn’t want to blow us off, because they will want us to come back to them with a pitch they’ll want in the future. 

Because we specialize in clean energy, climate and conservation, we become more valuable to reporters, and vice versa. Even if they’re not interested in a particular pitch, there’s likely something in a few weeks or months that they’ll really want. They have more reason to build a long-term relationship with us. 

We can more easily set up intro conversations with a client CEO, for example, because we can explain to a reporter why they’d find the conversation useful, and they’ll believe us. We’ve built up credibility with them and they trust we won’t waste their time. Compare that to a cold email to a reporter trying to set up a similar call. If it’s a big-name CEO, then sure, that’s easy and any comms firm could set that up. But most of the time that’s not the case.

We also know what stories reporters are working on because they may tell us. They may share insights off the record that are either helpful or just interesting. Then we can think about whether there’s an angle for inserting our clients into that future coverage. 

The Overstated Limits of Not Having Reporter Relationships

On the flip side, the limits of not having reporter relationships are often overstated. What it ultimately comes down to is, do you have timely, interesting news to share that fits a reporter’s outlet and audience? And are they getting this news first (not required but often helpful)? If I were working with the scientist who had just discovered the cure for cancer, it really doesn’t matter if I know the reporter well or not—they’re going to take that news any day of the week (assuming, of course, our basic credibility checks out). 

While we have strong relationships at top-tier national outlets and the robust trade outlets in the energy and climate space, we will often go into a market where we’ve never worked before. This is where our abilities as earned media pros are put to the test.

Recently, we were trying to place stories for a client in Michigan. Our team lacked close relationships with reporters in the Detroit market. But when we needed to drive media coverage, we were able to do it. We wrote a succinct pitch that was timely, and we knew what to emphasize with reporters. In this case, it was the controversy about a decision local officials were about to make that would affect the community. Relying on our experience with local news, we identified reporters at key outlets we assumed would be interested in a pitch. The reporters responded, we set up interviews, and they wrote the story. All of this happened without knowing any of them beforehand.

Having knowledge of a media market saves us valuable time. At this point, we’ve worked with clients or in our previous jobs in about half of all states, so we have a decent feel for the landscape and how to deliver coverage pretty much anywhere.

Relationships More Important Than Any Single Client Request

Some firms operate like they’re in the retail business and the customer/client is always right. We do not operate like this. We view our role as trusted advisors, not order-takers, and we look out for our client’s best interests. 

We sometimes get requests from clients for very specific things, like wanting to talk to one specific reporter. A client, after the 2024 election, demanded an audience with a prominent podcaster. We said no. It wasn’t a good fit, and suggesting it would be would damage our credibility with the producer and booker, who wouldn’t even bring it to the host for consideration. 

Yes, we can pitch a specific reporter. But if it’s not a good fit, and they don't have legitimate news, it doesn't help them. And it could hurt both the client’s and our relationship with the reporter or outlet.

How We Build Trust With Reporters

Speaking of credibility, we build it by being honest. We never lie, period. Over time, this builds a lot of trust. We also avoid being the cringe PR-types that come across like nails on a chalkboard because they’re so, well, PR-y. 

We also seek to be helpful—to serve as a resource. Reporters are busy and doing a difficult job. If we can make their lives easier, say by providing timely information or context, then that builds trust and appreciation. We also respond to their inquiries in a timely manner. Building a strong rapport means they’re more likely to consider something we bring them in the future, although it still must be newsworthy. I can’t emphasize this enough: A reporter isn't going to cover something because they like the communications person. 

Finally, we notice their work. We’ll send them notes from time to time if we enjoyed a story they wrote, even if it has nothing to do with our clients. Everyone likes getting feedback, especially when it’s positive.

As the traditional news media ebbs and influencers, podcast hosts, newsletter writers and others—who typically do not maintain the same journalistic standards—gain greater prominence, misunderstandings of how earned media works will only persist, if not grow. However, traditional earned media and the role of ethical, dogged and fact-based reporters remains invaluable. It behooves all of us to understand how they operate and how to engage them effectively. 

Oswaldo Acosta, CEO of City First Enterprises, reflects on how climate finance is entering a new phase—one defined less by abundant federal resources and more by a leaner, more disciplined market, built for efficiency, and long-term resilience. Drawing on more than a decade in community lending, Acosta explains why this moment requires CDFIs and green lenders to rethink how they grow, deploy capital, and lead through uncertainty.

Catch up on the highlights below and watch the full interview here.

(Do you know someone who should be featured in a future edition of the Echo Chamber newsletter? Reply to this email to let us know.)

What kind of projects does City First Enterprises finance?

“A typical transaction for us is an affordable housing structure with 200 to 250 residents that needs a million dollars to either retrofit their existing infrastructure or they need to put solar on the rooftop… In the long term, that investment will translate into savings.”

How has the climate finance landscape shifted?

“I think that the environment or the nature of the business has fundamentally changed, and it changed abruptly in the last 12 months. We are now at the beginning of the new normal. It's a new super cycle for institutions like ours, and green banks, and other climate finance lenders working in the intersection of economic development and clean energy.

“The world was abundant. We had an infinite amount of resources to execute our vision to do rapid and effective and equitable transition to the green economy. It was a frenzy into executing and executing fast and being as effective as possible. Organizations, think tanks, academic departments, policymakers, and local and federal politicians, everybody was aligned more or less. In concurrence with that, we had corporate America behind the movement.

“…Corporate leaders and organizations in general, including philanthropy, grew very wary of being perceived as too close to what the CDFIs, clean energy finance, and climate finance groups were doing, and how they were reserved in their approach.

“…On the other hand, we had a microeconomic condition that changed more slowly, but it still had a significant impact on the business, which is the price of money, the liquidity in the market. And then there were other externalities around this, which was a set of local and regional incentives for clean energy projects that are no longer there. So, it is a fundamentally new environment for climate finance.”

What is the climate finance sector currently facing?

“One camp of the impact finance world is longing for the past that is gone, reluctant to accept the new reality and fighting for the reinstalment of that set of institutions, and normal, policies, and attitudes and using legal, and political, and communication means to get to that place again. They believe that that's the only path forward.

“And then there is another camp where I see myself in, which is we need to embrace the new reality. We need to adapt to a world where there are simply not enough subsidies for us to continue growing at the pace we were expecting, and we need to change the way we do business.

“And by that I mean growing into self-sustaining financial institutions. Putting emphasis on being effective in deploying the capital, being efficient in the way we manage resources, managing risk, diversifying our sources of operations, lending, and investing capital. If we do the right things now, this is going to be in retrospect, a moment of restructuring and realignment in the sector. We will have a much more disciplined way of dealing with the wave. Let's start making the transformations that we need for 10 years from now, right now.”

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