Let’s Get Started With Some Key Takeaways:

Journalists’ views on public trust in the media have steadily improved over the last five years, but the challenge continues.* While U.S. journalists were the most likely to report a loss in public trust in the last year, they were also somewhat optimistic that this trend will improve going forward.

Censorship remains a significant concern. Nearly half of all journalists predict a continued deterioration of freedom of the press over the next three years.*

Anticipating, monitoring and quickly acting on trending stories will become even more critical for PR pros. With fragmented news consumption and increased competition for eyeballs, journalists are closely evaluating whether a story idea has the “it factor” that will translate into traffic and social shares (and ultimately ad revenue).

Journalists are both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by pitches. PR pros need to build highly targeted media lists. More than 1 in 4 journalists receive over 100 pitches per week with most ending up in the virtual trash due to irrelevance. And, contrary to popular belief, a sizeable percentage say they like receiving pitches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Journalists want PR pros to help make their jobs easier. With journalists covering several beats and stories per week, they’re looking for press releases that are chock full of original research, graphics and invites to interview experts or attend events.

PR pros should avoid pushing journalists’ biggest buttons. Pitches that sound like marketing brochures, lack of transparency and following up repeatedly are among the top pet peeves for journalists.