Journalist Request Sites in the UK: Where to Find Press Opportunities Every Day (2026)

Every day, journalists publicly ask for help. They need an expert to comment on a story, a business owner with a view on a new rule, or a case study for a feature going to print next week.

If you're the right person and you reply quickly with something useful, you can get quoted in national, regional and trade press without a PR agency and without knowing anyone.

The hard part is knowing where those requests are posted. This guide covers the main journalist request services UK businesses use in 2026, the free sources worth checking, which ones suit B2B companies, and a simple daily routine to make it work.

What is a journalist request?

A journalist request is a public call for sources. A journalist describes the story they're writing, what they need and their deadline, and experts reply with a comment or an offer to talk.

A typical request looks something like this:

Looking for UK small business owners to comment on how late payments are affecting cash flow. Need 2 to 3 sentences plus name, job title and company. Deadline 3pm today.

Requests come from national newspapers, trade magazines, regional titles, online publications, podcasts and broadcasters. For B2B businesses, the trade and business press requests are usually the most valuable.

The main services at a glance

Prices and features change, so check each provider's current terms before signing up.

The services in more detail

ResponseSource (Journalist Enquiry Service)

ResponseSource is one of the longest-running request services in the UK and is now part of Vuelio. Journalists, bloggers and broadcasters send in requests, a team checks them, and subscribers receive the ones that match the sectors they've chosen.

Cost: paid, priced by the categories you choose, with quotes on request.

Why it's useful: it covers UK national, regional, consumer and trade media, and the requests are vetted, so there's less noise. For a UK B2B business that wants one paid service, this is usually the one to look at first.

Watch out for: competition. Many PR agencies use it, so speed and quality of response matter.

Qwoted

Qwoted is a platform where journalists post requests and experts build a profile and pitch. It leans towards business, finance, tech and legal topics, which makes it a good fit for many B2B companies.

Cost: free to join. Free accounts have limits, including a delay before you can pitch new requests. Paid plans remove the delay and add more pitch credits and tools.

Why it's useful: a solid free starting point with plenty of business requests. A good profile also helps journalists find you directly.

Watch out for: on the free plan, the delay means paid users get the first shot at each request.

#journorequest on X and Bluesky

UK journalists post requests with the #journorequest hashtag, mainly on X and increasingly on Bluesky. It's free, fast and very UK-heavy.

Cost: free.

Why it's useful: many UK journalists post here first, especially freelancers writing for national and trade titles. Requests are often urgent, so quick responders do well.

How to use it: save a search for #journorequest combined with your topic, for example "#journorequest small business" or "#journorequest recruitment". Check it a couple of times a day.

Watch out for: noise. There are lots of consumer and lifestyle requests to scroll past.

HARO (now run by Featured)

HARO, short for Help a Reporter Out, was the best-known request service for years. It was closed, then brought back, and is now run by Featured, which also offers paid tools for PR.

Cost: the email digest is free. Featured's wider tools are paid.

Why it's useful: high volume of requests.

Watch out for: most requests are for US publications, and the volume of low-quality responses means you need a genuinely strong answer to stand out.

Source of Sources

A free email service that sends digests of journalist requests, set up as an alternative to the original HARO.

Cost: free.

Why it's useful: easy to scan alongside other sources.

Watch out for: mostly US media.

JournoLink

A UK PR platform built for small businesses. Alongside journalist requests, it offers tools for sending press releases and building media lists.

Cost: paid subscription. Discounts are sometimes available through small business organisations.

Why it's useful: UK-focused and designed for people doing their own PR.

Watch out for: you're paying for a wider toolset. If you only want requests, compare it against ResponseSource and the free options first.

SourceBottle

An international request service, originally popular in Australia, with a fair number of UK requests.

Cost: free to browse. Some pitching features depend on your plan.

Why it's useful: extra reach, particularly for consumer and lifestyle stories.

Watch out for: less useful for most B2B topics.

Help a B2B Writer

A free service focused on B2B topics. Writers post requests for experts on business subjects such as marketing, sales, finance and software.

Cost: free to sign up.

Why it's useful: every request is B2B, so there's very little to filter out.

Watch out for: most requests come from US writers and content sites rather than UK press.

Free sources that don't need a platform

Request services are only part of it. These are free and often less crowded:

• LinkedIn. Journalists and editors increasingly post requests on LinkedIn. Follow the journalists who cover your area, and search posts for phrases like "looking for experts" or "journorequest".
• Journalists' newsletters. Some trade journalists and editors list upcoming stories or requests in their newsletters.
• Forward features lists. Many trade magazines publish what they'll cover in coming issues. Pitch months ahead, not days.
• Google Alerts. Set alerts for your topics so you see breaking stories. A fast comment on a breaking story is a request nobody posted.
• Industry bodies. Trade associations often get media requests and pass them on to members.

Which ones should a B2B business use?

You don't need all of them. A sensible setup for most UK B2B companies:

1. Start free: #journorequest on X and Bluesky, Qwoted's free plan, and LinkedIn.
2. Add one paid UK service once you're responding regularly and want more volume, usually ResponseSource.
3. Add Google Alerts and forward features from the trade titles your customers read.

That covers the UK requests that matter most for B2B, without paying for several overlapping services.

A 15-minute daily routine

Coverage comes from consistency, not one big push. This routine takes about 15 minutes a day:

1. Morning, 10 minutes: check your request emails, #journorequest saved searches and Qwoted. Pick the one or two that genuinely match what you know.
2. Reply straight away to anything with a same-day deadline.
3. Afternoon, 5 minutes: a second check of #journorequest, since many requests go out late morning and early afternoon.
4. Weekly: check forward features lists and note any upcoming topics you could pitch.
5. Keep a simple log: the request, the publication, what you sent and whether it ran. It shows you what works.

How to reply so you actually get used

The basics, in short:

• Reply fast. Many requests close within hours.
• Answer the question. No company background, no sales pitch.
• Make it usable as written. Two or three sentences in quote marks, with your name, job title and company.
• Have a view. A clear opinion or practical tip is far more quotable than general agreement.
• Only reply to requests that fit. It protects your reputation with that journalist.

Since AI made it easy to write polished responses in seconds, journalists now get far more replies than they used to. What stands out is something only you could say: a real example, a number from your own business, or a strong, specific opinion.

Our guide to getting press coverage in the UK includes a before-and-after example of a journalist response.

When to stop doing it yourself

Checking requests every day works, but it's easy to fall behind when you're busy, and requests don't wait.

Go7 Radar brings press opportunities relevant to your business into one place every morning, alongside sales opportunities, and suggests comment angles you can adapt and send. It saves checking a handful of different sources and filtering out everything that doesn't fit.

If you'd rather someone else handled it, Go7 runs press alongside signal-led sales outreach, so you get coverage and sales meetings from one team. Our Managed Acquisition plan includes PR signals and article press, and the Acquisition + Authority plan adds deeper PR.

Not sure where your best opportunities are? Get a free Growth Report.

FAQs

What is the best journalist request service in the UK? For UK B2B businesses, ResponseSource is the most established paid option. For free, #journorequest on X and Bluesky and Qwoted's free plan are good places to start.

Is HARO still running? Yes. HARO was closed and later brought back, and it's now run by Featured. Most of its requests are for US publications, so it's less useful for UK-only coverage.

Are journalist request services free? Some are. Qwoted has a free plan, and #journorequest and Source of Sources are free, and Help a B2B Writer is free to sign up. ResponseSource and JournoLink are paid.

How quickly should I reply to a journalist request? As quickly as you can, ideally within an hour or two. Many requests have same-day deadlines and journalists often use the first strong responses they receive.

Can a small business really get press coverage this way? Yes. Journalists care whether your comment is useful, not how big your company is. A relevant, quotable response from a small business owner often beats a generic one from a large company.

How do I find journalist requests on social media? Search #journorequest on X and Bluesky, ideally combined with your topic, and save the search. On LinkedIn, follow journalists who cover your area and search posts for phrases like "looking for experts".