What Do Journalists Want From PR Professionals?

📰 Cision surveyed over 3,000 media professionals in 19 countries from January – February 2025 to discover into what journalists want and don’t want from PR professionals in today’s media landscape.

📊 Key takeaways:

🔹Most-wanted content: Journalists preferred receiving news announcements or press releases (72%), exclusive story angles (57%), and original research reports (55%) from PR professionals.

🔹 Building the relationship: The best ways for PR professionals to connect with a journalist were to introduce themselves over email & explain why they want to connect (85%), pitch a new, relevant story idea (38%), and invite them to an industry event (33%).

🔹What makes a pitch stand out: Compelling data (54%), a unique angle (49%), and clear contact information (43%) were key to getting noticed.

🔹AI skepticism: 56% of journalists were strongly or somewhat opposed to PR professionals using artificial intelligence (AI) to create pitches or press releases.

🔮 Why it matters: PR professionals can build stronger media relationships by not relying on AI and tailoring their pitches to what journalists really need.

Read how to navigate relationships with journalists