HARO for health experts: how to win journalist coverage

Journalist-request services let health experts win coverage by answering reporters’ questions directly. HARO is the best known, and after a turbulent couple of years it is running again as a free daily email, alongside alternatives such as Qwoted, Featured, Source of Sources and the #journorequest hashtag. The experts who get quoted aren’t the fastest or the pushiest; they’re the ones who give a journalist an accurate, quotable, ready-to-publish answer. Here’s how these services work, which HARO alternatives are worth your time, and how to be the expert reporters come back to.

How do these services work?

Reporters post what they need (a quote, a data point, an expert to interview) and sources respond. For health topics, journalists are specifically looking for credentialed voices: doctors, registered practitioners, scientists and specialist founders. Respond well a few times and reporters start coming back to you directly.

What happened to HARO?

HARO (Help A Reporter Out) launched in 2008 and was owned by Cision from 2014. Cision renamed it Connectively in 2024, then discontinued it, and in April 2025 announced the sale of HARO to Featured.com, confirming that it no longer offers either HARO or Connectively. Press Gazette reported that HARO returned in its original email format. Today helpareporter.com offers free daily media queries, powered by Featured. If you stopped using HARO when Connectively arrived, it is worth signing up again.

What are the best HARO alternatives?

No single service carries every request, so most experts use two or three. These are the main options, with prices as listed on each service’s own site in October 2026:

#journorequest is busier than many people assume: a BuzzStream analysis (BuzzStream sells outreach software) counted an average of 76 requests a day on X, with 78.5% from UK-based accounts. Two names you may still see recommended have changed: Terkel became Featured, and Help a B2B Writer now redirects to MentionMatch.

Which HARO alternative should a health expert use?

Start with the free feeds: HARO, Source of Sources and #journorequest. Add a paid platform only once you are answering requests regularly and can see where your best placements come from. A UK clinician will usually get more from #journorequest and ResponseSource; a US founder targeting national titles, from Qwoted or Featured. Whatever you use, filter hard: one strong, relevant answer beats ten generic ones, and reporters remember who wasted their time.

What does a winning response look like?

Answer the exact question in the first line, keep it to a tight, quotable paragraph or two, include your credentials and a one-line bio, and be genuinely useful rather than promotional. Speed matters, because reporters work to deadline, but accuracy matters more in health, where a wrong claim gets you cut. Offer a supporting stat or a memorable analogy the journalist can lift straight into the piece.

How do you stay compliant and credible?

Only comment within your expertise and licence, avoid claims you can’t back up, and never use a query as a thinly veiled product plug. The goal is to become a trusted regular source, and that reputation is worth more than any single link. If you’d rather not monitor requests yourself, our media relations and expert positioning service does it for you, and reactive expert placements cost $300 each, billed only when the placement is live.