With the rapidly-changing media landscape that exists in 2018, it's more important than ever for public relations professionals to understand the best ways to communicate with journalists to tell important stories. 

The media tactics that once worked no longer make sense. Just like journalists have adapted to the changing landscape, PR pros need to evolve too. Muck Rack's annual journalist survey results offer some eye-opening statistics on what journalists want -- and what they definitely do not want when it comes to working with public relations professionals.

For example, 53% of U.S. based journalists do not rely on press releases at all, with just 3% of journalists worldwide reporting they rely on press releases from a newswire. 

We collaborated on the annual survey with Zeno Group, a global, integrated communications agency.

Here are some of the key findings from the survey, which was conducted in February 2018.

Click here to download the full survey results

On pitching

• 53% of U.S.-based journalists do not rely on press releases at all

• Just 3% of journalists worldwide said they rely on press releases sent via newswires heavily (!!)

On social media

• More than 41% of journalists consider the potential “shareability” of a story when deciding what to write about

• 63% of journalists in the U.S. and 68% of journalists worldwide track how many times their stories are shared on social media 

• 27% of journalists choose Twitter as their primary news source

On objectivity and the fake news crisis

• 64% of journalists feel that objectivity is still the primary obligation for a journalist today

• Yet 46% of journalists believe that it is not possible for a journalist to be 100% objective in today’s political and social environment

• 71% of journalists worldwide believe that “the current presidential administration represents a highly negative challenge to the news media, putting journalism and journalists on the defensive, and eroding the media’s credibility with the American people”

Click here to download the full survey results

Hana Muasher is the Marketing Manager at Muck Rack and handles research, media partnerships, and events at Muck Rack.

Photo via Muck Rack's journalist survey