Getting your linkbait into newspapers

Have you tried actually contacting these reporters ? Newspapers and big news sites usually assign individuals to particular topics.

Find the reporters/journalists/bloggers that cover your topic area:

-Using a "site:domain.com topic" search can turn up people that consistently write about your topic.
-Using a tool like followerwonk is also handy for finding people you need to connect with.

Needless to say that if you come off as a typical SEO that emails random people for link exchanges or guest posts, you will get ignored. You have to really be genuine, and/or have something real to offer or have something new on the subject.

Sometimes you need to get the smaller publications on board first, in order to get the big boys to come around. For example, recently, I got mentioned in makeuseof. That eventually led to Mashable, which then lead to a mention in the Washington Post. That simple bit of outreach resulted in 40 new root linking domains.

Don't newspapers syndicate the same stuff & mix in a little local news?

My father in-law had a local newspaper reporter do an article on a non-profit, it took him a few emails to get the interview, bigger cities might be more difficult. The newspaper published online & offline. If you don't have anything legit I doubt they'll work with you unless it's some crappy paper like the "Thrifty Nickel" (lol).