What is the silly season?
The silly season is the period when there is little news, usually the summer vacation and the weeks around the holidays. Newsrooms actively hunt for stories to fill their pages and broadcasts. For PR that makes it an unusually promising period: news that would normally get cut does make the paper in the silly season.
Written by Timon Hendriks · Last updated on 12 July 2026
How it works in practice
In the silly season the news calculus changes. Politics is in recess, businesses announce little, and papers, sites, and broadcasts still need filling. Newsrooms reach faster for lighter stories, striking research, summer features, and human interest. The bar for news value drops temporarily while the need for stories stays the same.
Plan for it deliberately. Save stories without a deadline, such as a striking trend from your customer data or a strong personal story, and bring them in July, August, or between Christmas and New Year. Keep the story genuinely interesting: even in the silly season the day's strongest story wins, there is simply less competition.
Example
A camper van rental company in Boise sees in its bookings that more retirees travel outside high season. In March that story would probably get cut, so the owner deliberately holds it until early August. A national paper, hunting for summer stories, turns it into a feature with a reportage. Two radio stations call the same week for interviews.
Common mistake
Pausing PR in summer because "everyone is on vacation". Newsrooms keep working and need stories precisely then; whoever offers nothing in the silly season leaves the year's easiest placements on the table.
Frequently asked questions
When is the silly season?
Mainly the summer vacation, roughly July and August, and to a lesser degree the days between Christmas and New Year. In those weeks there is little political and business news and newsrooms actively look for stories.
What news works well in the silly season?
Stories without a hard deadline: striking trends from your own data, human interest, summer reportage opportunities, and light research. Exactly the stories that get cut first in busy news weeks.