Turning the corner on a new year always presents an opportunity to resolve to improve on processes or habits to work more effectively. Media data company, Cision, recently released its 2021 Global State of the Media Report, summarizing a recent survey of 2,700 journalists in 15 countries. Its findings can lend some insight into your resolutions for evolving your public relations efforts to concept, package and pitch your brand stories to news media in 2022.

Let’s take a look at some key takeaways:

Public trust is returning – the number of journalists who believe the public lost trust in the news media has nearly been cut in half over the past five years (from 91% in 2017 to 53% in 2021). That’s good news for brand storytellers, because with feelings about trust in media improving, we may see more investment in journalism and newsrooms, creating increased opportunities to tell your stories.

Looking for good news – with more than 40% of journalists expressing fatigue with covering COVID-19 issues, the leading angles journalists are seeking out include:

• How companies are helping others (36.5%)
• Furthering diversity, inclusion and equality (33.3%)
• How companies and communities are getting back to normal (32.3%)

Other anecdotal takeaways find some journalists moving away from “news of the day” toward longer, character-driven storytelling, while others are shifting toward more local community news since there are so many options for national stories.

Help them help you – Newsrooms are stretched thinner than ever for resources. Nearly half the journalists surveyed cover five beats or more, and a third of them file 10 or more stories a week. Furthermore, one in four journalists receive more than 100 pitches a week… one said they’re “choked with news.” 

In this environment, public relations pros can be most effective when they make the reporter’s job easier. Like always, that means great visuals, strong spokespeople, and quality and compelling news-y writing (not written like an ad or a corporate brochure).  But, today, it also means not wasting their time with irrelevant pitches by ensuring the media outlet’s audience and the journalist’s prior coverage match up to your storyline. It also means using research and data to help identify trendmakers — or trendbreakers – that can help make your story angle more relevant or topical.

Contact BCH today to explore how we can help you resolve to amplify your public relations in 2022.