This is true, and we provide that advice in the blog post we link to under the Embargo Strategy section:
"Can journalists break embargoes? Yes, some journalists notoriously will not honor embargoes. There’s an easy solution though — only include information in the pitch email that you would be ok with a journalist publishing. Once they agree to the embargo, you can share the rest of the story."
However, we've worked on hundreds of campaigns under embargo, and a journalist has never broken one. With early-stage startups, you can't really afford to be cagey with your news, as response rate will be so low anyway. You have to provide the lede upfront to get journalists interested in the first place.
> we've worked on hundreds of campaigns under embargo, and a journalist has never broken one
My point is that they are not breaking the embargo by publishing the contents of your initial email.
Whatever you send in the initial email is decidedly not embargoed. Totally get that the risk can be worth it, but you're implying in this post that the information is actually under embargo when sent before explicit agreement.
I can see that point, although I would argue that if you include the language "We’re asking for an embargo on any stories" in the email, the vast majority of journalists will treat the contents of the email as under embargo. It's an unenforceable honor code, and most people don't want to get into semantic debates about what exactly is under embargo. But yes, the embargo does not go into effect until the journalists explicitly agrees to it, and that includes the contents of the email. Again, we believe this is the right advice for early-stage startups in order to garner journalist attention.
"Can journalists break embargoes? Yes, some journalists notoriously will not honor embargoes. There’s an easy solution though — only include information in the pitch email that you would be ok with a journalist publishing. Once they agree to the embargo, you can share the rest of the story."
However, we've worked on hundreds of campaigns under embargo, and a journalist has never broken one. With early-stage startups, you can't really afford to be cagey with your news, as response rate will be so low anyway. You have to provide the lede upfront to get journalists interested in the first place.