It should come as no surprise that the Cision 2017 State of the Media report highlights the erosion of trust in the mainstream media. Although the public and marketing executives still rank earned media above owned or paid, there is a growing perception, even amongst journalists, that the media is struggling to maintain that position of trust.
How does this affect PR?
“The disruption of the media business impacts journalists’ productivity and performance, making the relationships between brands, trusted newswires, journalists and influencers even more vital than ever.” Cision State of the Media 2017
Media relations has long been a core function of PR, but our role is changing – in order to earn media coverage today we must step up our game and provide quality content that enables journalists to tell better stories: 
To earn the media’s attention we have to publish accurate statements, newsworthy press releases, engaging images and videos that help journalists do their job, meet their shrinking deadlines and rebuild trust in news stories.
And we need to make this content easy to find and simple to use.
Company Newsrooms
Most company newsrooms are no more than a “press release graveyard.”
Imagine you’re a reporter looking for sources for a story you’re working on late at night. Your first stop is Google. You see a company website that might be relevant. You go to the website and look for the newsroom. It takes you are few frustrating clicks to find it. And when you get there all it offers is a page of text press releases in PDF – no expert database so you can look for a source to interview, no fact sheets on the topic you’re interested in and no images or videos. In frustration you leave the website and look elsewhere. That company just lost an opportunity for media coverage.
What journalists and influencers look for in an online newsroom:
• Newsworthy content relevant to their beat
• Mobile compatibility
• Visual content – image and video based stories
• Credible industry experts
• Fact sheets by topic
• Story Ideas
The media trends are clear – journalists need PR to provide them with content. We must give them quality content in a format they can find and use quickly and easily.
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Read the full State of the Media Report
