What is a clipping report?
A clipping report, also called a coverage report or press clipping report, is the list of every place a press release or story was published, with proof. It is how PR teams show clients and management what an announcement achieved. Here is what a good one includes, and how to make one people actually read.
Where the name comes from
Before the internet, monitoring services read newspapers and magazines and literally clipped out every article that mentioned a client. The clippings were pasted into a book and posted to the client. Today the clippings are web pages, and the report is a document or an online page, but the purpose is the same: proof of what was published, and where.
What a good clipping report includes
- Every clipping: outlet name, headline, date, country, language and a working link
- Proof of publication: a screenshot of each page, because links change and pages disappear
- A summary up front: one plain paragraph a busy reader can understand in ten seconds
- Breakdowns: by country, region, language and media type
- Editorial coverage separated from syndication: one release republished on forty sites is not forty stories
- Reach and value estimates, if you use them, with the method stated
- The original release, so the reader can compare
Common mistakes
Counting volume instead of value
Getting a release onto 200 syndication sites is not hard. Getting one story in a publication your audience trusts is. A report that leads with "200 clippings" hides the coverage that mattered. Lead with the outlets that count, and group the syndicated copies.
Presenting estimates as facts
Advertising value equivalence (AVE) and "potential reach" are estimates, and AVE in particular is criticised by the industry's own measurement principles. If you include them, say how they were calculated.
A spreadsheet nobody opens
A list of 300 links sent as an attachment rarely gets read. A short summary, a map and a few charts get the point across; the full list can sit behind them.
Making one by hand vs. using a tool
| By hand | With a tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding pick-ups | Search engines and outlet sites, one by one | Newswire archives, search engines and outlet lists searched together |
| Language versions | Easy to miss | Found from the release's own language links |
| Screenshots | Taken and pasted manually | Captured for every clipping |
| Report | Slides or a spreadsheet | An interactive page plus PDF, Word and Excel |
| Time per release | Hours | Minutes of review |
The new part: AI answers
A clipping report shows where the news was published. More and more people now ask AI assistants instead of reading the news directly, so a modern report also shows whether ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity mention the company after the release, and whether they cite the coverage. See AI visibility monitoring.
How Clipping Report does it
Clipping Report combines human web search with an AI Searcher to find every pick-up, captures a screenshot of each one, adds the AI visibility check, and delivers it all as one interactive, password-protected report with PDF, Word and Excel versions. See what's inside a report.
Frequently asked questions
What is a clipping report?
A clipping report is a list of every place a press release or story was published, with the outlet, country, language, date, a link and proof of publication. It shows what an announcement achieved.
What is a press clipping?
A press clipping is a single piece of coverage: one article, page or post that mentions the news. The name comes from cutting articles out of newspapers; online, a clipping is a link plus a screenshot.
How long does it take to make a clipping report by hand?
For a release distributed internationally, finding, checking and screenshotting every pick-up by hand can take several hours, and a large release can have hundreds of pick-ups. Tools like Clipping Report do the searching and screenshots automatically.
Should a clipping report include advertising value equivalence (AVE)?
Many PR professionals advise against relying on AVE: the industry's Barcelona Principles say it is not a measure of the value of communication. If you include it, label it clearly as an estimate and lead with the actual coverage.
See where your next release lands.
Send us a recent press release and we'll send back its coverage report, including how ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity talk about it.