Now in its 13th year, Cision’s Global State of the Media Report has firmly cemented its position as the standard-bearer for identifying trends in the journalism industry. For its 2022 report, Cision teamed up with its global network of writers and editors who provided key insights into the industry and their expectations from PR and communications professionals.
Here are the major highlights of the report.
1. The Evolving Role of the Journalists
While the role of the journalist has remained the same over the years i.e. to report the facts objectively and thoroughly, their responsibilities today transcend the usual task of news delivery. Today journalists are under increasingly high pressure of thinking about the impact created by the content produced by them. Also, they are entrusted with attracting audiences and driving engagement.
However, they are also constrained by various challenges such as declining resources, limited staff, and the constant struggle to keep up with emerging technologies.
2. The Fight Against Fake News
Upon being asked what they believed was the biggest challenge for journalism in 2021, combating accusations of fake news was the top answer for 32% of the respondents.
Moreover, more than half i.e. 57% of the surveyed journalists said that they felt that the public had lost its trust in the media over the last year. This number has gone up by four percentage points from the last year.
3. Resource Crunch
Staffing and resource-related challenges are continuously seen as some of the biggest challenges in the journalism industry. Journalists often have to multitask on multiple levels to keep up with the never-ending news cycle.
Almost three in ten journalists i.e. 29% claimed that they file 10 or more stories every week. 36% of the journalists claimed that they file 4-9 stories every week while 34% of the respondents said that they file 1-3 stories per week.
4. The Performance Pressure
Journalists are under increasingly high pressure of driving audiences to their stories. This is directly related to budgets as the declining advertising and circulation revenues lead many news outlets to monitor their audience data as closely as their leads.
The industry is being directly affected by the mounting pressure to drive clicks, shares, likes, and video plays. This has led 59% of the surveyed journalists to rethink the way they assess their stories.
5. The Significance of Social Media
Upon being asked about the significance of social media in their work, 20% of journalists said that it came in handy for publishing or promoting their content, which made it the top answer. PR professionals must realize that simply because a journalist is using social media doesn’t mean that they are hunting for a PR pitch.
Therefore, social platforms are viable channels for PR professionals to follow journalists, learn more about their work, and start a conversation with them, which could ultimately lead to opportunities in the future.
6. Most Used Platforms
Facebook is the platform that is most used by journalists across the globe for sourcing information, interacting with their audience, and publishing or promoting content. An overwhelmingly high number of journalists (63%) said that they used Facebook as their primary source for these purposes. Twitter (59%) is the next most used social media platform, followed by LinkedIn(56%)
7. Mode of Contact via Social Media
When asked how they prefer to be contacted on social media, journalists came up with varying responses. While almost one-fourth (23%) of the journalists found DMs acceptable, one-third (34%) said that they don’t prefer DMs with 12% of the surveyed journalists saying that they’d go as far as blocking a PR professional who reaches them via DMs.
Wrapping Up
The journalism industry has evolved greatly over the last few decades. From what was considered to be a wholly philanthropic activity, journalism has now become a lucrative business and journalists are majorly responsible for the financial changes that have brought about in the industry. Therefore, PR professionals trying to tie up with journalists should keep these trends and developments in mind while reaching out to media professionals.
To delve deeper into the findings of the report, click here.