Last week, I saw a fascinating LinkedIn post from former USA Today journalist Scott Martin, who recently made the transition to heading up content and media strategy for an agency.
In his post, he justified his move away from traditional reporting in sort of an if-you-can’t-beat-them-then-join-them manner.
“Technology has been swiftly dismantling traditional news media, and it’s only going to get worse,” Martin writes. “That’s because social media giants are becoming the new distribution powerhouses and gatekeepers of news as well as the place to put advertising dollars to work . . . Companies can now bypass trying to get news coverage, making traditional news media even less important.” 
Martin apparently believes that there is no way for the traditional news business to survive without incorporating native advertising or content marketing (stories businesses pay for to have placed) into the mix on a consistent basis. It’s an increasingly popular practice that sometimes cleverly blurs the line for readers who might confuse articles that are basically paid advertisements with editorial content created by a news outlet’s own staff.
Martin’s exit comes at the exact time when a new study reveals just how challenging reporters are finding their jobs. “The American Journalist in the Digital Age” is a representative survey conducted by the Indiana University School of Journalism.
At WordWrite, we are increasingly focused on getting the best content in the right spaces to reach the audiences most important in driving business for our clients. However, unlike Martin, I’m not yet ready to draw conclusions that paint such a stark picture of traditional journalism.
Setting aside the many challenges reporters and news outlets face in holding on to their readership, we still believe in the value of reaching key decision makers in a given business sector through having a client’s thought leaders quoted or highlighted in the most appropriate news or trade industry publications.
Toward that end, let’s take a look at a few key findings from the IU survey and discuss how our collective experience as former journalists assists us in working with reporters and editors locally, regionally and nationally.
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Newsrooms are shrinking. Six in 10 journalists (62.6 percent) say their workforces have shrunk during the past year, which makes it critical for public and media relations professionals to execute a targeted strategy in disseminating pitches or story ideas, not a “shotgun” approach. It’s imperative to identify and develop relationships with reporters in order for them to trust that the information we as media relations professionals are providing them has news value for their readers.
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Journalists are getting older. The median age of full-time journalists at all types of outlets increased by six years to 47 in the last decade. That means reporters likely have a lower tolerance for B.S. They’re experienced and busier than ever. Having a PR team craft pitches to cut through the bulk of insignificant noise that buries a reporter’s inbox every day will go a long way in proving that client’s value as a trusted source for the media.
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Most reporters need approval from editors before writing a story. Only a third (33.6 percent) has complete freedom to choose stories, down from a roughly 60 percent majority 30 years ago. That’s why it becomes essential that the people, ideas and angles media relations pros share with reporters pass the smell test for newsworthiness across multiple levels of bureaucracy. It also becomes a question of strategy for media relations professionals in terms of when to bypass the reporter and go directly to an editor. Overall, the dynamics of the relationships a PR pro builds with the media are essential to positioning his or her client as experts.
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Reaching a mass audience isn’t as important. As media consumers in different business sectors increasingly seek out outlets specific to their personal or professional needs, nearly 90 percent of journalists feel news that reaches “the widest possible audience” is no longer extremely important. We believe it’s quality that matters, not quantity. Two standard media relations measures for success – number of impressions and number of media placements – have become archaic. Number of impressions is simply the highest possible amount of people who could theoretically view a story and total story placements an agency earns for clients means far less than if the news is getting viewed by the right audiences to help a client achieve its business goals.
At the end of the day, a media relations and content development strategy executed by your PR team must help drive business. It’s the agency’s job to constantly evaluate the authenticity of your messages, the fluency of your thought leaders in communicating these ideas and the resonance the outreach is having on your audiences related to driving your business goals.
Good content is good content. That will never change. But if content is validated by an unbiased third party in specific outlets read, viewed or heard by those who want to purchase your product or services, then the trust factor has been established, and a significant roadblock to closing a sale therefore eliminated.
Jeremy Church is an account supervisor for WordWrite Communications. He can be reached at jeremy.church@wordwritepr.com and on Twitter @churchjeremy. 
