Some defendants negotiate in good faith from the start. Others treat a low early offer as a test of a plaintiff's resolve, betting the case will settle cheap out of fatigue before it settles fair. Public awareness, used correctly, is one of the few levers that changes that calculation without touching the courtroom.
The audiences that actually move a defendant's posture aren't the general public — they're the board, the insurer setting reserves, the shareholders reading a 10-K risk disclosure. Sustained, accurate coverage that keeps a matter visible to those specific audiences changes how a defendant weighs the cost of continuing to fight versus the cost of resolving it.
It isn't pressure through volume or exaggeration — that approach backfires by giving the defense a credibility argument against the coverage itself. It's accurate, well-sourced reporting, kept in front of the right audience, timed to filings and rulings that already make the story newsworthy. The pressure comes from the truth staying visible, not from turning the volume up on anything else.