3,000 Journalists Told Us How They’re Using AI, Social Media and More

For Cision’s 2025 State of the Media Report, more than 3,000 journalists weighed in to provide PR professionals with the insights they need for strengthening their relationships with the media, refining their outreach strategies and ultimately securing more meaningful earned media coverage for their brands and clients.

Below, we highlight a few of the main takeaways and findings. See what your peers had to say and read the full report here.

1. Journalists’ Biggest Challenge? Adapting to Changing Audience Behaviors.

When asked about their biggest challenges of the past year, 42% of journalists selected “Adapting to changing audience behaviors around media consumption,” making it the top answer. It overtook last year’s #1 challenge: “Maintaining credibility as a trusted news source/combating accusations of ‘fake news’.”

The proliferation of digital platforms and myriad ways to consume content means audiences have more choices than ever for where and how they get their news. Pew Research found that while a large majority of U.S. adults (86%) say they at least sometimes get news from a smartphone, 63% still get news from television at least sometimes and 42% occasionally get news from the radio. When it comes to news consumption on digital devices, news sites/apps and search engines are the most popular, but 54% at least sometimes get news from social media and 27% say the same about podcasts.

The fragmentation creates challenges for publishers as they work to reach and engage audiences across channels and platforms. News consumers also encounter challenges in identifying credible information as they navigate a variety of sources and platforms.

“The emergence of AI” also moved up in the list of challenges, from sixth to fourth place in this year’s survey. AI is a regular topic in our monthly media news recaps as it continues to be a hurdle for newsrooms. Some are embracing the tech and working with AI leaders to license their content, while others are headed to the courtroom and many are finding smart ways to use it in the newsroom to help make reporters’ work a bit easier.

But these challenges are not ranked the same across the globe. While North American and EMEA journalists note audience behaviors and maintaining credibility as their top challenges, APAC reporters list AI and the struggle to verify information as their top hurdles.

2. AI Adoption is Growing – But Differs by Region.

Since AI has been moving up on the list of top challenges for journalists, we wanted to dig deeper. When asked if they’re using AI to support their work, 53% of journalists said they’re using generative AI tools like ChatGPT in their efforts, while 14% plan to start. The most popular uses for it include:

• Researching topics (25%).
• Transcribing interviews and audio (23%).
• Summarizing text (20%).

Resistance to the tech appears to be much more intense in North America: 49% of journalists here say they don’t currently use it and have no plans to in the future, while only 11% of APAC journalists said the same. APAC journalists are also much more likely to use AI to create outlines and early drafts (41%), compared to only 11% of journalists in North America and 16% in EMEA.

Journalists’ sentiments regarding AI in their work are particularly noteworthy given Pew’s recent findings that most Americans are pessimistic of AI’s impact on news consumption and the journalism profession. CJR recently asked journalists how they view AI in the newsroom, and the responses varied—while one respondent said, “Large language models simply offer a game-changing deal,” another argued that AI “just makes everything slightly worse.” We’ll continue watching the latest media news updates about AI use in the newsroom and journalists’ opinions of it.

When it comes to PR pros using AI to generate pitches or press releases, the majority of journalists are at least open to the idea (although 27% are “strongly opposed”), and while they don’t prefer it, they’d consider well-crafted AI-generated content. Again, North American journalists show the strongest resistance; 41% are “strongly opposed,” compared to 24% in EMEA and only 9% in APAC. APAC journalists are the most accepting of AI-generated PR assets: 37% are somewhat in favor while 6% strongly favor it (compared to only 1% each in North America and EMEA).

3. Nearly All Journalists are Using Social Media for Work – But They Favor Different Platforms.

Ninety-six percent of respondents are using social media for a variety of work tasks, according to the survey, so we set out to find out how journalists are using it. The top uses include publishing/promoting their work (64%), interacting with their audience (55%) and crowdsourcing information for stories (51%).

Journalists say LinkedIn is their top choice globally, with 59% using it frequently. Mainstays like Facebook and Instagram followed with 53% and 51%, respectively.

One perhaps not-so-surprising finding was the rise of Bluesky in the rankings—18% of journalists globally said they use it frequently (including 27% of North American journalists, the highest of any region). The rise comes after a fall 2024 exodus of journalists from X, formerly Twitter, as it became an increasingly difficult platform for the media.

“We want Bluesky to be a great home for journalists, publishers, and creators. Unlike other platforms, we don’t de-promote your links. Post all the links you want — Bluesky is a lobby to the open web,” Rose Wang, Bluesky’s chief operating officer, said in November.

However, despite the migration, 1 in 2 North American journalists still rely on X for tasks like following developing stories and breaking news.

When broken down by region, LinkedIn takes the top spot in North America and EMEA, but in APAC (not including China), Facebook edges it out. And in China, WeChat dominates with 85% of respondents selecting it as a frequently used platform.

4. Journalists (Again) Say Relevance is Key to Successful Media Relations.

One theme that shows up year after year in our survey is the fact that journalists are inundated with pitches. Half of journalists receive over 50 pitches per week, according to this year’s results. But not all pitches are created equal, and a lack of relevance is the top reason for rejecting them, according to 86% of respondents.

A large majority (78%) of journalists say that spamming them with irrelevant pitches will result in them blocking a PR professional. Reporters are dealing with the rise of AI, attacks on the press and layoffs across the industry—and they’re asking PR pros to make their jobs just a bit easier by doing their research and only sending them pitches that are relevant to their audience and offer newsworthy story ideas.

“Unique story angles are key. I’m not interested in ‘content.’ If the story isn’t interesting to the PR professional, it won’t be interesting to my readers, either,” said one journalist.

5. Journalists Want to Build Relationships with PR Pros.

Journalists continue to find value in their relationships with PR professionals. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they rely on PR and comms pros to connect them with relevant sources, 57% value their access to people and places, and 43% are interested in their relevant story ideas.

However, journalists told us that many PR pros are forgetting what the “R” in PR stands for and need to focus more on building strong, trusted relationships.

“The best PR folks are the ones who add context and value outside of their immediate pitching needs, and who actually want to build a working relationship, not a transactional one,” said one survey respondent.

Journalists shared the top ways for PR pros to build a working relationship, including:

• Introduce yourself over email & tell me why you want to connect (85%). This was the top answer across regions.
• Pitch me a new, relevant story idea (38%).
• Invite me to an industry event (33%).

Learn More

We covered much more in our survey, including the elements of an ideal pitch, journalists’ use of multimedia, the perfect pitch length and proper follow-up etiquette for PR pros. Download the report today to see what journalists had to say.

If you’re searching for new story ideas and brands to connect with for your reporting, create a custom newsfeed with PR Newswire for Journalists to receive relevant press releases in your inbox, on the schedule that works for you.

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