It goes beyond better pitches.
Even if you worked in a newsroom in the past, today’s environment looks incredibly different.
The ranks of journalists have shrunk dramatically. Print is an afterthought, TV is fading and even the news website is now dying as audience members look to social media, newsletters, LLMs and podcasts for their answers.
News consumers are increasingly less impressed by the names of outlets than by the personalities who bring them the news and with whom they form personal relationships.
And traditional methods of funding journalism are drying up as the tumultuous economy leads some to pull back on their subscriptions and as search traffic to websites collapses in the face of the AI revolution.
Yet at the same time, PR professionals are clamoring for journalists’ attention more than ever before. The same LLMs that are imperiling journalism also rely heavily on reporting to deliver answers, leading PR practitioners to clamor for the attention of journalists.
It’s a dizzying atmosphere that can be hard to understand from the outside. Talking directly to journalists can help PR pros better understand what journalists want and how to best provide it.
The PR Daily Conference, coming to Brooklyn, New York City June 3-5, offers a variety of opportunities to learn from journalists in a variety of capacities to hone pitches and better understand the macro media environment today.
Here’s what PR pros can learn directly from journalists during the conference:
Understanding how a modern newsroom operates
The Business Insider newsroom tour gives PR pros a closer look at how a digital newsroom functions day to day. Communicators will better understand how editorial teams move from story ideas to assignments, how timing affects coverage decisions and how newsroom structure shapes what gets prioritized.
Learning what makes a pitch useful to journalists
The “Meet the Media: Speed Pitching Workshop” offers a direct look at how journalists respond to PR outreach. The value for communicators is not simply the chance to pitch. It is the chance to see how editors and reporters assess an idea in real time, including whether the angle fits their beat, whether the supporting material is strong enough and whether the story is relevant to their audience.
Among the journalists helping refine pitches are:
- Tatiana Pile, beauty and wellness editor and founder, The Unpolished Edit
- Geoffrey Rogow, executive editor, BBC Studios
- Christopher Zara, news director, Fast Company
- Saleah Blancaflor, assistant editor, Sherwood News
- Celia Fernandez, senior data journalist, lifestyle, Redfin
- Peter Adams, senior reporter, Marketing Dive
- Ethan Alter, deputy editor and New York bureau chief, Gold Derby
- Aditi Shrikant, advice columnist and personal finance reporter, MarketWatch
Seeing how journalists are navigating evolving media, misinformation and trust
The “State of the Newsroom: Navigating Influence in the Age of Fragmented Media” session broadens the conversation beyond pitching. It gives PR pros a better understanding of how journalists are thinking about the changing ways people consume news as well as the changing environment in which they consume it. After all, how can a journalist share the truth if no one agrees on what that means?
Steve Russolillo, chief news editor at Business Insider, brings a newsroom leadership perspective on how editorial teams weigh influence, audience expectations and news judgment. Maiken Scott, host and executive producer of “The Pulse” from WHYY/NPR/PRX, offers perspective from public media and audio journalism, where trust, depth and audience connection are central. Jessica Kartalija, national correspondent at NewsNation, brings a national news perspective on covering complex issues for broad audiences.
The journalists drive home that media relations requires more than a strong subject line. PR pros need to understand the editorial pressures journalists face, the audiences they serve and the credibility standards they work to maintain.
Understanding trust and editorial judgment in the age of AI
The keynote fireside conversation, “Trust in the Age of AI: How TIME Is Evolving for a New Media Era,” brings in Sam Jacobs, editor in chief of TIME, for a discussion of how a legacy media brand is adapting as technology changes how information is created, distributed and consumed.
It’s no surprise that TIME is evolving from its roots as a print magazine. But that evolution is a story about trust, editorial authority and human judgment in an AI-shaped media environment. As AI makes it easier to generate content quickly, communicators will need to work harder to provide accurate information, credible sources and clear points of view that can withstand journalistic scrutiny.
There’s still time to attend. Join me at the conference!
Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
The post What PR pros can learn from the journalists shaping today’s newsrooms appeared first on PR Daily.
