MWC 2026: Tips from Inside the Press Room

Five weeks from today, we’ll be in the thick of it. The sore feet, the questionable amount of tapas, and that distinct, low-level hum of the Fira. But right now, we’re all navigating the single most stressful part of the pre-show ritual, pitching briefings.

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We’ve spent the last few weeks speaking to the people who actually hold the pens (and the laptops) to find out what’s piquing their interest. We caught up with the veterans — Iain Morris from Light Reading, James Pearce at TelecomTV, and Keith Dyer of The Mobile Network, along with Paul Lipscombe from DataCentre Dynamics and City AM’s newcomer Saskia Koopman. 

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The consensus? The game has changed. If you’re still working on a "spray and pray" basis, you’re not just wasting time; you’re actively burning bridges.

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The Diary Dilemma

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The days of journalists sprinting between 40 meetings are effectively over. There’s a conscious rejection of the "quantity over quality" schedule this year, and it’s creating a serious squeeze on slots.

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James Pearce admits he learned this the hard way. He told us that in his early years, he’d pack in thirty or forty briefings, which he now recognises was a mistake. This year, he’s capping it at five or six a day to create breathing room to actually create stories from the conversations he has had. Iain Morris is in the same boat. He aims for four a day, though usually gets dragged into fifteen or eighteen across the show. But, important caveat, Iain already has ten meetings locked in. If you haven't booked him yet, you’re fighting for scraps.

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Even Saskia Koopman, who is attending her first MWC, is wary. She’s adopting a guarded approach, looking for a few high-quality "angles" rather than filling her schedule with back-to-back tech specs.

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The Plumbing & The PnL

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The biggest mistake we see? Pitching the plumbing to the people who care about the PnL.

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If you have a story about the guts of the network, you need to be talking to the reporters covering the infrastructure. Iain Morris is laser-focused on the RAN. He wants to talk AI-RAN (specifically as OpenRAN scales back), 6G sensing, and the silicon ecosystem beyond NVIDIA. He’s also tracking "physical AI"—a topic bubbling up from Ericsson and Nokia. Keith Dyer is in a similar headspace, hunting for the "hard truths" behind the hype. He wants to see the reality of vRAN and Agentic AI in operations. Then there’s Paul Lipscombe, who bridges the gap to the data centre. He wants the infrastructure story: the fibre, the racks, and the capacity required to keep the AI lights on.

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On the flip side, James Pearce and Saskia Koopman are looking away from the wires. James’s "North Star" is the enterprise opportunity. He wants to discuss Private 5G, Digital Sovereignty, and where telcos can actually find revenue in the B2B space. Saskia needs the "City view." She isn't interested in the specs of a new antenna; she wants to know the financial implication and the market impact. The same will be true of the journalists from the FT, Bloomberg and other nationals at the show.

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How to Get Deleted

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If there is one thing that unites every journalist we spoke to, it’s a hatred for irrelevance.

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Paul Lipscombe was clear - don't just tell him "AI is the future." He wants tangible use cases that make sense of the announcement you have. His biggest pet peeve is being pitched things that have zero relevance to his publication. James Pearce is equally direct. If your email starts with "Dear Journalist," he’s not opening it. And if you pitch him a consumer handset story, you’re just going to annoy him.

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It’s also worth remembering that the medium matters. Iain and Paul are editorial purists—they want intelligence for written analysis. James and Saskia are hybrids. James balances editorial with sponsored video, meaning his time is split between the camera and the notepad. Saskia is looking for social-first content for TikTok and YouTube. If you have a visually striking stand, you’re already halfway to a pitch with her.

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The Bottom Line

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MWC is a marathon, not a sprint. But the preparation is definitely a sprint, and the window to secure these briefings is closing fast.

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So, take a look at your pitch list. Are you sending a generic blast, or are you offering Iain a silicon angle and James a sovereignty debate? The difference between the two is the difference between a full diary and an empty stand.

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Heading to MWC? We’ll be there in force. If you need help refining that messaging or nailing those last-minute pitches, you know where to find us.

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