HARO in 2026: where to answer journalists for free
Updated Oct 9, 2026.
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) connects journalists who need expert sources with people who can answer them. It’s still running, and still free: Featured, which owns it, says HARO “is free for journalists and for sources”, paid for by advertising in the newsletter (Featured).
What happened to HARO
By Featured’s account, Peter Shankman founded HARO in 2008, Cision owned it from 2014, and Cision retired it in 2024. Featured bought it from Cision in April 2025 and sent its first edition on April 22, 2025, as “a free daily email connecting journalists with sources”. Featured says a person reviews every journalist query before it’s published.
Connectively, the platform Cision introduced in 2023 to replace HARO, closed on December 9, 2024. Featured bought that name too, and announced on May 26, 2026 that its own platform for experts and publishers would move to it.
Where to answer requests
- HARO, the free daily email, now run by Featured.
- Source of Sources, Peter Shankman’s newer list. It sends requests up to three times a day, and “This list doesn’t cost a dime” (Source of Sources).
- Featured, the company’s own platform. It gathers requests from HARO, Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn, matches them to your expertise and drafts responses. It has a free plan, and its paid plans start at $39 a month, billed monthly (Featured, checked Oct 9, 2026).
Write your own answers
Featured says an analysis of more than 2 million pitches found that “roughly one in five pitches sent through HARO is entirely AI-generated”, and that about one in three journalists opts out of AI-flagged pitches (Featured). HARO and Connectively now check every pitch with AI detection (Featured press releases, August 8, 2026).
Source of Sources removes anyone who answers off topic: “No exceptions, no appeals.”
Two checks before you pay for help
- Start with the free lists. Answering HARO and Source of Sources costs nothing.
- If you pay a service to answer for you, approve each answer before it goes out: it’s sent in your name, to a journalist who may filter out AI-written pitches.
Sources
- Featured: About, checked October 9, 2026
- Featured: Pricing, checked October 9, 2026
- Featured: Press releases, checked October 9, 2026
- Source of Sources, checked October 9, 2026