Media Relations Isn't Dead—It's Evolving

 

Media relations, till not very long ago, was what defined the PR process. Clients thought, with much justification, that the success of a PR agency or consultant was in direct proportion to how well acquainted they were with members of the press across the various beats of journalism. After all, that is what determined the success of their ability to obtain the all important coverage they wanted for their products and services. That is why media relations lay at the centre of a PR organisation’s universe.

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I remember during my time with a leading Indian PR agency, we were given a weekly budget to take out leading journalists for lunch. The idea was to get to know them in a manner that made it possible to pitch stories to them in an optimal manner.

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The rapid growth of the Internet, online and social media has upended the world of PR. The tried and tested media relations approach of the past no longer works. While media relations stays central to the PR process, it needs to keep pace with the dynamic, ever evolving, multi-channel, and forever churning nature of news media in the age of AI.

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Besides, journalists these days don't just work for reputed media houses; they often have their own social media and online presence of considerable significance. When a PR person pitches to them, he or she has to think not just about the news organisation the journalist represents, but also their own audiences that they may be reaching through their blogs, social media posts, podcasts and newsletters.

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Press Release Centric Approach No Longer Works

The ubiquitous press release is no longer the principal driver of media relations like it was in the past. Journalists in the digital age receive an exceedingly large number of press releases every day and simply do not possess the bandwidth to go through them all. Instead, they would rather respond to communication that is personalised and addresses them directly. In an era of real-time news, a press release is often too slow and cumbersome to gain meaningful traction.

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Look Way Beyond Traditional Media

While traditional print and electronic media still retain considerable credibility and heft, you have to cast your net much wider to encompass new-age distribution channels like blogs, vlogs, newsletters, podcasts and other content creators. Every story that you pitch has to be tailored to synchronise with the channel in question. What this in effect means is that your media relations efforts need to go beyond cultivating legacy media journalists and look at building bridges with the people responsible for generating content for a host of new-age media channels.

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AI is All Important; But Media Relations Are Still Very Relevant

Leading media intelligence platform Cision who carried out a PR survey in the UK and the US recently regarding the challenges, tools, skills, and opportunities that PR professionals would have to contend in 2026. It found that 48% of the respondents named AI and automation as the source of the greatest opportunity for a PR team, followed by strengthening relationships with journalists and creators at 39%. 

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This points to the fact that media relations is far from dead and has only evolved with the times by broadening its scope of outreach, instead of jettisoning it completely.

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Media Relations Now Includes a Creator Outreach Strategy

Given the increasing importance of creators in the new age PR approach, PR professionals need to have a creator outreach strategy along the lines of a traditional media relations plan. Like you create media lists of journalists across the beats relevant to your brand, you need to cull out a similar list of creators whose messaging and audience have synergy with the brand that you are trying to promote.

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You can proceed to build trust-based and value-based relationships with them by earnestly engaging with their content and looking at them as people you could collaborate with in the future. You can help them with their stories by sharing useful data pertaining to the product and service in question. This goes beyond the old way of sending journalists a generic press release, hoping that they would make something of it.

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Media relations is not only not dead; it is also probably in no danger of doing so ever. It has evolved over time to factor in the new realities of the ever-evolving and dynamic universe of digital and AI-age PR. Media relations, in fact, is much more expansive than it was in the past and remains a significant part of the PR process.

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