Five takeaways from Cision’s 2026 State of the Media Report, and what they mean for how we pitch
Cision surveyed 1,899 journalists across 19 markets for its 2026 State of the Media Report, and the results read less like industry trivia and more like a performance review for our profession.
As in years past, journalists told Cision exactly what earns their trust, what wastes their time, and what will get a PR contact permanently blocked.
Some of it confirms what good practitioners already know. Some of it should change how every team here approaches outreach starting this quarter. Here are the five takeaways that matter most.
Relevance is the only currency that matters
The report shows most journalists are sorting through more than 50 pitches a week, and 72% say they consider a quarter or less of what lands in their inbox even remotely relevant.
When asked what makes a pitch worth opening, 79% said relevance to their beat, audience, or coverage area. When we asked what gets a pitch deleted, 82% pointed to the same thing in reverse: not relevant to my audience.
That last number is the one that should stop every team mid-pitch. Irrelevance is the single biggest driver of the outcome PR teams fear most: getting quietly written off as someone not worth opening again.
TAKEAWAY: Research the journalist’s beat and recent coverage, tailor the pitch to the specific outlet and platform, and lead with a custom angle that matters to their audience.
Help journalists help your clients
Journalists are overworked and under-resourced, and that scarcity shows up in what they ask for. They want PR partners who make their job easier, not harder. In their own words, they asked us to “provide clear, accurate, and complete information up front” and to “think deeply about why you are pitching me a story idea” before sending it.
Journalists will gravitate toward public relations professionals who consistently offer transparent information with sourcing they can verify independently and ready-to-use assets such as high-resolution images, b-roll, infographics, quotes, and background material.
TAKEAWAY: The through-line here is trust. Journalists who can verify your information quickly are far more likely to come back to you as a source.
Give them what they really want:
data, expertise, and access
When journalists were asked what they’d like PR professionals to send more of, the top four answers were data or research (47%), embargoed or early access information (45%), access to experts or interview opportunities (42%), and event invitations (38%). Press releases and spokesperson quotes ranked near the bottom.
That order in which these responses appeared is a signal. They want the raw ingredients for original stories: proprietary data, first access, and credible human sources they can quote directly.
Given how much AI slop and deepfakes are already circulating, real expert access is becoming more valuable, not less.
TAKEAWAY: If your pitch doesn’t include a data point, an exclusive angle, or an expert worth quoting, it’s competing for attention it probably won’t get.
Respect their time and their boundaries
Journalists were specific about outreach etiquette. More than half expect a response within 24 hours if they reach out to you first. When it comes to following up on a pitch you sent, 64% said once is enough. Nearly all of them, 97%, prefer email over every other channel, including phone, text, and social DMs.
Word count matters too. For most pitch types, the sweet spot is 100 to 200 words because journalists don’t have the bandwidth for an essay when a paragraph will do.
TAKEAWAY: Send concise, well-written pitches with a strong subject line. Follow up once, then move on.
AI is changing the workflow
authenticity still matters most
This is the finding that should reshape how communications agencies think about AI in media relations. One in five say they avoid AI altogether for anything related to their work. When we asked how journalists feel about PR professionals using AI to generate pitches or press releases, 53% said they’re opposed to receiving AI-generated content. Journalists have adopted AI as their own research co-pilot, but they do not want it standing in for a human being on the other end of a pitch.
TAKEAWAY: Use AI to support your process, not to replace the judgment behind it. Every fact still needs a human check. Every pitch still needs to sound like it came from someone who understands the story and the reporter.
What this means for how we work
Every one of these takeaways points back to the same idea: earning coverage in 2026 requires being useful, not loud.
Relevance, transparency, real access, respect for time, and a human hand on every pitch are the baseline now, not the differentiator.