Not if you wanted your friend tokeep listening. Be equally kind to journalists. A journalist friend who told me he gets a three foot stack of snailmail and over 150 emails a day shared this story with me the otherday. There were about8 more pages, but I didn't bother to read them. I just laughed, showedthe letter around and threw it away.
Timing is incredibly important.
Let's say you're anophthalmologist and the President is going to have eye surgery. Youstand a good chance of getting a phone call for your opinion if youremail just arrived while the reporter is thinking of whom to call. Your pitch only stands to become a story if it is likely to make alot of people stop and read or listen. Describe her actual role. Someone almost alwaysdid it before, also, as well or as big.