From press releases to partnerships in a shrinking media landscape

Do journalists need PRs? It’s something ex-journo turned PR Phil Chadwick has been thinking about and compares the years when he cut his teeth in the newsroom with today’s B2B media landscape 

There was a time when a printed magazine was sacrosanct. Ink on paper was the money spinner for advertisers and in the world of B2B publishing, magazines were the medium where I cut my teeth as a journalist in the early 2000s. Back then, a monthly title could provide a string of exclusive news stories, punchy in-depth analysis pieces and features that could run for several pages. 

The relationship between journalists and PR professionals was simpler exchange: PRs supplied the info, journos weighed up whether it’s worth publishing. Many pitches came to nothing although with the caveat that there’s always the next edition. 

Newsrooms were well-resourced (weekly titles in particular) and editorial cycles were more predictable. But that’s now changed. Print’s authority has gone and digital has made for a more chaotic environment.  

And with this shift there’s a new question that’s worth asking – not whether journalists use PR, but do they need it? 

A changing relationship 

Traditionally, journalists were gatekeepers. PR teams pitched; editors filtered. The power dynamic was clear, even if the relationship was often tense. While some journos saw PR as the ‘dark side,’ I felt that was a bit unfair. PRs didn’t just fire across press releases; they set up interviews, supplied images and made introductions (occasionally over a boozy lunch…) to their clients who could often become valuable contacts.  

That dynamic has shifted. Journalists are operating under staff cuts, tighter budgets and heavier workloads. Editorial teams have shrunk over the last decade. In some cases, the editor is the editorial team and isn’t just dealing with story pitches, editing pages and commissioning (or writing) features. Events have become bigger money spinners for B2B titles and an editor’s contacts are invaluable to source judges for awards programmes or speakers for a conference. 

With that in mind, journalists are time poor and relying increasingly on externally sourced content, data and expertise. Data from Cision claimed that 66% of journalists rely on PR for story ideas.  It’s no longer just about pitching a press release – PR helps shape the content. 

What journalists need – and how PR helps 

While press releases remain relevant (and still widely used), relying on them alone is no longer enough. For B2B media, fewer print titles might mean fewer journalists, but the demand for content is still high.  

Since switching sides, I’ve found that the job is more than just writing and sending press releases. Publications are looking for more long-form articles, thought leadership articles that set out a clear argument and add value to their readers. This isn’t a marketing exercise; editorial departments might be time poor, but they still require quality and content that helps them maintain their independent voice in an industry. Any article that simply promotes a company’s products or services doesn’t do any favours, either to the publication or the reader. 

Niche knowledge and nuances 

It’s a balancing act but done right, journalists can value the role that PR has to play in shaping their future content. It can become structural to how journalism operates, particularly in specialist B2B sectors where expertise, data, and niche knowledge are essential. 

And collaborating to shape content is becoming ever more important in the world of AI. As NM’s Simon Wildash points out in his blog,  brand mentions power AI recognition – and where does the lion’s share of AI searches go to for information? Earned media. 

The bar has risen but the future is collaborative. Do journalists need PRs? Yes – but PRs need to demonstrate their understanding of each market, the nuances of each publication’s readership and how tight each editorial team is. For B2B journalists, the most valuable PR is not the one that pitches hardest but the one that makes journalism easier to produce, richer in insight, and more relevant to its audience. 

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