I'm Breaking Down the 2024 State of Journalism Report
Hello hello PR Pals and welcome back to another week of the PR Pulse. Last week was a hectic one with countless changes to my workload and client deadlines, and this week is shaping up to be more of the same.
I talk a lot about the state of journalism and this week I was planning to simply touch on Muck Rack’s recently-released State of Journalism 2024 report. However, for the sake of time - and my sanity - I thought I’d use the entire PR Pulse this week to only focus on the report and what I thought were the key takeaways. I’m breaking it down for you so you don’t have to. (Naturally if you DID want to see the report in its entirety, you can access it here at any time. I also watched their panel discussion with some fantastic journalists so if you have the time, I’d highly recommend you take a look.)
So let’s dive in.
I thought the State of Journalism Report was incredibly interesting and valuable but it was a LOT of information. So I’m going to share what I found to be the most useful. Feel free to like, comment, save and share this post so you have it readily available at your fingertips for future use.
Ok, so I organized my takeaways into 5 categories: Journalist Productivity and Publishing Platforms, Preferred Sources and Credibility, Role of Social Media, Relationship with PR Professionals, and Pitching Preferences. Here are my highlights.
Journalist Productivity and Publishing Platforms:
Nearly a quarter of journalists produce 11 or more stories per week, a similar number produce 5–7, and marginally fewer publish only once a week.
69% of work is made for online publication, highlighting the dominance of digital platforms.
About one in four primarily publish in legacy media (print, TV and radio) despite the digital shift.
Preferred Sources and Credibility:
Journalists strongly prefer researchers and subject matter experts as sources, with researchers winning near-universal approval at 82% and subject matter experts at 77%. CEOs are also considered credible sources at 46%.
Only 32% and 22% consider Company PR professionals (so in-house PR) and Agency PR pros respectively to be credible sources for reporting.
Relationship with PR Professionals:
70% of journalists say PR pros are either important or very important to the success of their jobs.
However, 49% say they respond to PR pitches seldom or never. Guys, that is HALF that never respond.
73% of journalists reject pitches because they’re not relevant to what they cover.
Despite low response rates, the pitches keep coming. 46% of journalists receive 6 or more pitches per day. That works out to at least 30 pitches per week for almost half of all journalists. So that’s a great segue into…
Pitching Preferences:
83% of journalists prefer to be pitched via 1:1 email, indicating a preference for personalized communication.
64% don’t care which day they are pitched, but of those who do, 22% prefer Mondays.
44% want to receive pitches before noon, and 65% prefer pitches that are under 200 words.
51% say one follow-up is ideal, and 48% say it should come within 3–7 days later. In my experience, most journalists say to follow up in a week if you’ve not heard from them.
Before you pitch, take a look at my Instagram post with tips on what to do first.
Role of Social Media:
70% of journalists say social media is important or very important for promoting their work, indicating its significance in the modern media landscape.
Twitter remains dominant, with 36% of journalists considering it the most valuable social media platform. I’ve talked about this before - it is a great platform to connect with media, build relationships, and see what they’re producing.
However, LinkedIn (my favourite platform) is projected to grow, with 44% of journalists expecting to spend more time on the platform this year.
Alright, I know that was a LOT of information but I do hope that I was able to provide some really useful high level valuable and useful information for you to be able to go forward and conquer!
That’s a wrap from me. Please continue to like, comment and share on these posts - I love getting your feedback!