A recent survey by Muck Rack revealed, amongst other important issues, that despite 46% of journalists receiving over 6 pitches daily, 49% seldom or never respond, mainly due to relevance issues. Still, 70% acknowledge PR professionals as at least moderately important to their success.
Muck Rack surveyed 1,106 journalists from January 3 to February 9, 2024. The goal of the survey was to understand the current state of journalism and the future outlook of the industry by speaking to the people who produce the news. Most responses came from U.S. based journalists (60%), whilst Africa (10%), Asia (10%) and Europe (7%), UK (9%), Oceania (3%) and South America (1%) making up the balance.
Other main findings include:
- Funding and Trust: About one-third of journalists express concerns about lack of funding and trust in journalism, consistent with last year’s findings.
- Employment Trends: More than one-third report layoffs or buyouts, with 30% turning to LinkedIn for job opportunities. Over half prefer a hybrid work arrangement, yet many find themselves working in the office more than desired.
- Work Hours and Compensation: A significant 64% work over 40 hours weekly, with 79% working after hours. Yet, only 46% earn more than $70k per year, indicating a gap between workload and compensation.
- Content Production: Nearly a quarter produce 11 or more stories weekly, and about one in four primarily publish in legacy media, despite the digital shift.
- AI and Social Media: 28% currently use generative AI, with 20% planning to explore its uses, mainly for behind-the-scenes tasks. Social media is crucial, with 70% valuing it for promotion.
MyPR has extracted the findings pertinent to PR Professionals out of the Muck Rack Survey as follows:
Most full-time staff journalists are working long days – 64% report working more than 40 hours a week while about 36% report 40 hours or less. Freelancers are more likely to say they work more than 40 hours a week. 41% of staffers report working more than 40 hours while 64% of freelancers report the same.
Journalism is not a 9-to-5 – 79% report working after hours at least once a week and 34% are doing it most days.
Journalists have very different work loads – While nearly a quarter of journalists produce a whopping 11 or more stories per week, a similar number produce 5-7 and marginally fewer publish only once a week.
Most work is made for online publication – About one in four journalists are primarily publishing in a legacy media—print, TV and radio. In the other category, people mention books and wire services.
Legacy media, like newspaper and radio, is sticking around as an additional media format – 66% report their stories additionally publish in a legacy media format. On average, journalists say their work is published in about two additional types of media.
Experts and researchers make the best sources – When it comes to sources for their stories, journalists have a strong preference for researchers and subject matter experts winning near universal approval. CEOs round out the top three most credible sources.
In the “other” category, many mention their community and other “ground truth” sources like those directly related to the story being published.
Compared to their PR counterparts, journalists are much less likely to be using gen AI.
Social media continues to be an important tool in creating journalism – More than half of journalists say social media is either important or very important to produce their stories, while about one quarter say it’s not or only slightly important.
X is still the dominant social platform for journalists as most journalists on X are staying on X – One in five said they moved away from the platform this year. According to the 2023 State of Journalism, half of respondents considered leaving the platform last year. It seems like many of them changed their mind.
There isn’t a consensus on an X alternative
Most PR pitches get ignored – 49% say they respond to PR pitches seldom or never while about half as many say they respond usually or always.
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.
Journalists reject pitches because they’re not relevant to what they cover – Far more than any other reason, journalists are rejecting PR pitches because they don’t match their coverage. In the other category, many say the pitches are too promotional or not newsworthy.
About Muck Rack:
Muck Rack enables organizations to build trust, tell their stories and demonstrate the unique value of earned media. Thousands of journalists use Muck Rack’s free tools to showcase their portfolios, analyze news about any topic and measure the impact of their stories.
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Alan Straton
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