Cision is shedding some light on the top challenges and priorities that journalists are facing. And just as expected, the findings reinforce the critical need for PR pros to be as diligent as ever in providing trusted, accurate and relevant content for journalists.

Cision surveyed more than 3,000 journalists from across the globe to better understand how communications professionals can help secure media coverage for clients and employers.

Cision asked:

• What do you believe was the biggest challenge for journalism?

• What are your priorities?

• What do you consider the most trustworthy for gathering/validating information?

• How are you using multimedia?

We all benefit from this information, including business owners, corporations, organizations, thought leaders, stakeholders and more. By sharing the needs and challenges of journalists, PR professionals can create solid partnerships and highlight efforts through accurate and authentic storytelling.

Want publicity for your work? Here’s what you need to know.

What’s holding journalists back right now… 

• Smaller newsrooms and reduced resources

• The balancing act of covering important topics while battling misinformation.

According to Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, since 2005, the country has lost more than one-fourth of its newspapers and is on track to lose a third by 2025. Local newspapers are being hit the hardest. With accurate and trusted reporting slowly dying out, it’s getting harder to decipher the truth from the fake. Social media has only added fuel to the fire and with it comes the spread and belief of misinformation. 

How are journalists using social media?

• 66% of journalists say they used social media to source information 

• Journalists are moving to LinkedIn and Instagram in place of Twitter and Facebook

Journalists are choosing to spend their valuable time promoting content, sourcing information and interacting with their audience on LinkedIn and Instagram at an increasing rate.

What are the priorities for journalists and editors?

• Ensuring content is accurate

• Audience perception as a trusted news source

Where’s the data?

• 40% of journalists say they are relying more on data this year (views, engagement, demographic data, etc.) to shape their editorial strategy than they have in previous years.

• 37% of journalists say they won't consider covering a product unless the pitch includes data showing trends and problems the product is solving for readers.

• Not only do they rely on data, but the majority of journalists rely on the public relations professionals they partner with to provide it.

Visuals

• Reporters are relying more on visuals to tell a story.

• They want to see and incorporate videos, photos, charts and polls.

• When it comes to supplying multimedia, think twice about sending an attachment and, instead, supply a link – whether to your media page or a storage space like Dropbox or WeTransfer. It's much easier to access files this way.

What are the top ways that communicators/PR pros provide value to journalists?

• Alert of new/upcoming events

• Help find sources

• Provide new/interesting stories 

This is just a taste of what Cision learned in the 2023 Global State of the Media Report. Download the report to see all the findings. 

By Nikai Salcido