PostEaseThe short answer
A media pitch is a message sent to a journalist, publication, or creator proposing that they cover a specific story, product, or announcement. It differs from a press release, which is a self-contained document meant to stand alone. A pitch is a direct, personal ask tailored to why this particular recipient's audience would care.
Specificity is what separates a pitch that gets read from one that gets ignored
A generic pitch sent identically to a long list of recipients tends to get ignored, since it is obviously not written for any one of them specifically. A pitch that references the recipient's actual recent work, and explains precisely why this particular story fits what they already cover, signals genuine research and tends to get a real response far more often.
A short pitch outperforms a long one
A journalist or creator receiving many pitches a day rarely reads past the first few lines. The ask, and why it matters to their audience, needs to be clear immediately, with supporting detail available on request rather than front-loaded into a long opening message.