Exclusion Register

Read time 7 min Level Intermediate Prerequisites A Story and a CRM of outlets and contacts you pitch to

In a nutshell: The Exclusion Register keeps a journalist -- and optionally their whole outlet -- off a Story's pitch lists once they have said "not this one". You add one record per contact: pick them from CRM search, choose Exclusion Type (Contact Only or Contact and Outlet), record the Source, set a Reason from nine well-defined values, and write a short description. The Exclusion Type is the lever -- it controls the scope of the suppression on every future pitch list.

What you will learn

What the Exclusion Register does and how it protects relationships with journalists who have said no.
The page layout: ACTIVITY landing, then EXCLUSIONS & DECLINES with sub-tabs EXCLUSIONS and REPORTS.
How to add an exclusion -- the contact search, the Exclusion Type, the Source, the Reason, the Description.
The nine Reason values and what each one signals.
How exclusions feed reporting so you can spot patterns across a Story.

The mental model

When a journalist says "not this one" -- wrong beat, wrong moment, already covered it, please stop emailing me -- you record it on the Exclusion Register and the platform stops putting them on future pitch lists for that Story. The journalist relationship is protected; the next wave of pitching skips them automatically.

The lever that does the work is the Exclusion Type:

Contact Only -- suppress this person on this Story. Other journalists at the same outlet are still fair game.
Contact and Outlet -- suppress the person and the whole outlet. Use this when the editorial decision was an outlet-level pass.

The other fields -- Source, Reason, Description -- capture context and feed the reporting layer so the shape of the declines is visible across a Story.

Find the page from the PITCH menu under "Exclusion Register". Acme PR Corp logs every Globex Wellbeing Index decline here so the next pitch wave skips them automatically and the relationship survives for the next angle.

The page layout

ACTIVITY tab

The landing tab -- recent activity and Story context. Pick the Story you are working on (with an "All stories" option for the cross-Story view).

EXCLUSIONS & DECLINES tab

The working tab. Two sub-tabs:

EXCLUSIONS -- the Pitching Exclusion Register itself: the list of excluded contacts and outlets, with a Reason filter and the Add Exclusion action.
REPORTS -- a Summary Data view showing the exclusions for this Story broken down by reason and by exclusion type, so you can see the shape of the declines.

Adding an exclusion

Open Add Exclusion. Start with the contact: search by outlet, name or email and pick them. The platform fills in:

Outlet -- from the contact's CRM record.
Contact Name -- from the search.
Contact Email -- from the search.

Then you set:

Exclusion Type -- Contact Only or Contact and Outlet. Choose the scope that matches the decision.
Decline Source -- Email, Phone or Other. How you heard the no.
Reason -- one of nine values (below).
Description -- a rich-text field for the detail: what exactly was said, any nuance, when to maybe try again. The description is yours to write freely.

Date added and the team member who added it are captured automatically, so the record always carries an audit trail.

The nine Reason values

Availability: They could not fit it in -- no slot, no capacity right now.
Audience: Wrong audience for the Story -- it does not fit who they reach.
Commercial: A commercial reason -- they would want it as paid/sponsored, or there is a sales angle blocking it.
Conflict: A conflict of interest -- a competing client, a relationship, an editorial conflict.
Data: A data or contact-quality issue -- bad email, bounced, requested removal, details wrong.
Frequency: Too soon since the last touch -- they have heard from you (or covered you) recently.
Similar: They have already run something similar -- a near-duplicate angle is out there.
Timing: Wrong moment -- deadline clash, news cycle, the timing simply does not work.
Other: Anything outside the above -- explain it in the Description.

The Reason vocabulary keeps the REPORTS view useful: if a Story is racking up Timing exclusions, you have a launch-window problem; if Data is dominating, your CRM list needs a refresh; if Conflict is building, the angle may need a rethink.

Try this: On your next Story, open EXCLUSIONS & DECLINES > EXCLUSIONS > Add Exclusion. Search for the contact who passed on the pitch, pick them, set Exclusion Type = Contact Only, Decline Source = Phone, Reason = Audience and a one-line Description ("Pitch was wrong angle for their tech-policy beat -- try them on a regulatory angle next quarter"). Save. On the next pitch wave, confirm the contact is no longer on the list. Check the REPORTS sub-tab -- the Summary Data shows the pattern of declines as the Story progresses.

Frequently asked

What are the Reason options?: Availability, Audience, Commercial, Conflict, Data, Frequency, Similar, Timing, Other.
What actually stops the contact getting pitched again?: The Exclusion Type. Contact Only suppresses the person; Contact and Outlet suppresses the person and the outlet. Reason and Description are context, feeding the reporting; the Type is the lever.
Can I record a "try again later" cue?: Yes -- write it in the Description. Use the language that matters to you ("try after Q1 budget", "good fit when AI regulation hits the news cycle"). When you revisit, search the register by reason or by description to find the cue.
What happens when a contact covers the Story -- do I exclude them manually?: The Add Coverage form on Bookings & Coverage carries the same exclusion option (Contact Only or Contact and Outlet), so a contact who has covered the Story drops off the pitch list automatically. The two paths feed the same register.
What is the REPORTS sub-tab for?: Summary Data -- exclusions for the Story broken down by reason and by exclusion type. Useful for spotting whether the "no"s are clustered around timing, audience, conflict or data, so you can adjust the next wave intelligently.
Do exclusions apply across Stories or per Story?: Per Story. A "no thanks on this launch" is not a permanent no -- the contact remains pitchable on the next Story with a different angle.

Key takeaways

The Exclusion Register protects the journalist relationship by keeping a contact (and optionally their outlet) off future pitch lists for the Story.
Page: ACTIVITY landing, then EXCLUSIONS & DECLINES with sub-tabs EXCLUSIONS and REPORTS (Summary Data).
Add Exclusion: contact from CRM search, Exclusion Type (Contact Only or Contact and Outlet), Decline Source (Email / Phone / Other), Reason, Description. Date added and added-by are captured automatically.
Nine Reason values: Availability, Audience, Commercial, Conflict, Data, Frequency, Similar, Timing, Other.
Exclusion Type is the lever; Reason feeds the REPORTS view so you can read the shape of the declines and tune the next wave.