5 Media Trends Shaping How Journalists Work With PR

Any tuned-in PR professional knows just how profoundly emerging media trends can impact journalism, and the repercussions this can have for PR. From artificial intelligence to social media, technology is changing how reporters work, how they interact with audiences, and how they communicate with their public relations partners.

These media industry trends are reflected in the 2025 State of the Media Report, our survey of more that 3,000 reporters from across the globe. The responses gave us key data into how journalists feel about the challenges they’re facing, so we thought we’d pull at these threads further in our webinar, The Media Mindset: Want Journalists Want in 2025.

The panel included Mosheh Oinounou, founder of social-led brand Mo News; Joss Evans, who leads social media for ITV News; and Allison Carter, editorial director of PR Daily.

They shared valuable insights into how artificial intelligence, social media platforms, and evolving audience expectations are transforming both journalism and the PR-media relationship.

We encourage you to watch the full conversation (now available on demand), but if you’re short on time we’ve assembled some of the key insight from the discussion, including how PR pros can apply these takeaways to their own work.

1. AI Is Optimizing Work Processes and Uncovering Insight

One of the most significant trends in media today, AI has quickly shifted from being an experimental technology to a tool that’s now integrated across newsrooms and media organizations. According to the 2025 State of the Media Report, more than half (53%) of journalists are using it to support their work for a variety of tasks.

Mo News’s Oinounou explained his “two-pronged approach” to AI: “We’re thinking about AI for our own news processes and output, and then also thinking about it when it comes to what we're offering consumers down the road." Oinounou added that his team is testing AI to identify the most engaging clips from their daily podcast, using the technology as an additional producer to provide initial recommendations which are then refined by human editors.

At ITV News, Evans encourages their social-savvy team to embrace AI tools, noting that resisting them could hurt them professionally as the technology becomes increasingly prevalent. "If they're not doing it [using AI], they're going to fall behind the next producer, journalist, content creator, storyteller," they said. ITV News uses AI for transcription and research assistance, viewing it as an extra resource in their journalism toolkit rather than a threat to their roles.

Meanwhile, PR Daily’s Carter utilizes the technology as an analysis tool, noting that she runs web traffic data through AI, asking to identify patterns and suggest content strategies. Among the questions AI analysis helps her answer: "What are the patterns here? What other kinds of stories should I write based on what performed well, what didn't perform well?”

It’s clear that AI is transforming newsrooms, influencing how stories are sourced, written, and evaluated, and even informing editorial decisions. PR teams can benefit from taking a similar approach, using AI to understand if and how a story, media pitch or campaign might resonate with audiences. The technology is also effective at streamlining necessary but tedious tasks, handling the jobs that bog down creative thinking to free up time for more strategic and human work.

2. Accuracy and Transparency Are Non-Negotiables

According to findings from the State of the Media Report, most journalists are open to the idea of PR professionals using AI in their comms with them (only 27% indicated they are “strongly opposed”). Their biggest worry? A lack of accuracy; a concern reflecting broader journalism trends around misinformation.

When we dug into this topic during the webinar, our panelists had mixed feeling as well; however, they universally emphasized that transparency and accuracy around AI aren’t just good practice – they are essential for preserving professional relationships.

Evans is “absolutely fine” with AI being used by PR teams to create content – as long as they make it clear where. Anything pitched must be verified, otherwise it risks reputational harm for both the PR professional and the journalist. “If there's not transparency at the beginning, it's quite hard to rebuild trust afterwards,” they said, “because I’m just going to get burnt when I present this to the newsroom."

Oinounou is less amenable to AI-generated pitches and emails, saying they are often immediately recognizable to experienced journalists: "It's very clear to me when somebody has used AI to write a pitch email, and [they can be] soulless at times." He emphasized that even AI-assisted comms needs human oversight and personalization to be effective.

However, Carter offered a different take on the AI-in-PR trend. "I don't care if it's AI generated, I care if it's correct. That's table stakes. If it's wrong, nothing else matters," she said.

Clearly the jury is still out on if AI will help or hinder the PR-journalist dynamic, but one thing is clear: the need for human oversight is paramount. Just as PR pros should be able to verify any data or statistics they provide journalists, anything generated using AI also needs to stand up under scrutiny. The focus on PR work should be on quality and accuracy, with human input bringing value through editing, fact-checking, and a personal touch that AI can’t deliver.

3. Social Media Is Helping Journalists Reach New Audiences

Social media has moved on from being a simple content distribution channel to a critical tool for brand and audience building. It’s particularly valuable for reaching younger demographics who have moved away from traditional media consumption.

Evans outlined this audience shift, saying that, as a national broadcaster, ITV’s viewership is largely over 60 years of age. Their big challenge is maintaining relevance with younger audiences. "The newsroom [wanted] brand recognition and [to get our] respected, valued journalism to younger audiences who aren't consuming their news on linear TV," they explained.

ITV News has seen particularly strong growth and engagement across TikTok. Though some of its linear TV content is repurposed on social platforms, Evans acknowledged that successful social media journalism requires a bespoke approach. “[We’re] putting young, diverse journalists at the forefront, showing a bit more personality in how we deliver the content, like addressing individuals rather than on our TV program, where we’re addressing a nation.”

Oinounou, whose Mo News is predominantly based on Instagram, noted that operating on social media can create entirely new forms of audience engagement. The platform’s two-way dialogue extends beyond simple back-and-forth interaction; Oinounou incorporates community insights directly into coverage, often integrating comments from his audience directly into his outlet’s reporting.

PR professionals have been on a similar journey with social media, and seeing how journalists are rethinking their approaches can provide inspiration. As reporters adapt to these new platforms and formats, PR pros must tailor their strategies accordingly to leverage social media and share compelling stories. After all, many of the lessons PR takes from journalism’s use of social media can be applied to content for their own brands and campaigns.

4. The Press Release Finds a New Purpose

Social media may have supercharged the speed in which information is disseminated, but that hasn’t reduced the impact of the press release. According to the 2025 State of the Media Report, 72% of journalists still cite press releases as the most useful resource PR teams can offer.

Wanting to understand more, we asked our panelists about this finding. Evans acknowledged that the press release still holds immense value, saying: “It’s a yes for me... if it can give me what I need to know with a quick scan, great!” They even added a tip about what PR pros should add in the subject line to get read. “I find it quite valuable to put ‘ITV News dash, whatever the story is’, because then I'll assume that we'll have covered it before, or it's related to something we've already put out,” they said.

Demonstrating how media industry trends in AI are changing traditional practices, Carter highlighted a crucial shift in the way the media are using press releases. She noted they are becoming increasingly valuable assets for AI-driven SEO, where LLMs (large language models) train on web content before serving up results to search engine users.

“It’s more and more important to post press releases on your website or on a newswire,” she explained. “We are seeing that AI chatbots in particular, which people are increasingly using as search engines, are picking up that data.”

The reflects wider AI-driven changes in how information is discovered and consumed. While the press release remains a crucial tool for generating coverage, they’re finding new life as sources that feed into AI systems.

As our panelists’ remarks prove, the press release remains a resilient and multipurpose PR tool, but presentation is critical. Think carefully about how you format them, both when sending to journalists and publishing to newswire and your owned website. For the latter, ensure you’re implementing good SEO practice with headlines, headers, multimedia, and alt text so they’re discoverable by AI-powered search engines. For more advice, check out our tip sheet: 10 Ways to Amplify Your Press Release Content.

5. The PR-Media Relationship Still Matters

Even with the rise of digital communication, it’s the personal relationships between PR professionals and journalists that remain the bedrock of effective media relations. However, the nature and expectations of these relationships have evolved significantly.

Carter emphasized that while establishing relationships matter, they need to be built on trust to succeed in the long term. "Knowing a journalist is not a magic wand [for PR professionals],” she said. “If I know you, I will open your email and take a minute to read it. That's about all I can guarantee.

“If I know that I can trust you, and you'll be fast with a response for me, you'll get me the materials I need [or] you'll get an executive on the line when you say you will, then you're worth your weight in gold.”

Evans highlighted that personal networking touches still matter in fostering these professional bonds. “[Saying] ‘I can buy you a coffee and I work around the corner’ does still go a long way. I think there is real value in that face-to-face connection. [When] I’ve got a face and a name, I know when that email comes in that that person is familiar.”

If PR teams take nothing else away from The Media Mindset webinar, it’s that mutually beneficial relationships built on trust rather than transactional requests stand a better chance of working in the long run. Don’t forgot the personal connection; if journalists know who you are, your emails are more likely to be opened, even if they don’t automatically secure media coverage.

Find out how CisionOne can help you stay ahead of the latest media trends and connect you with the right journalists to tell your brand story, speak with one of our experts.