Report: PR pros outnumber journalists by a 6-to-1 ratio
As newsrooms shrink and more industries clamor for coverage, PR pros have surpassed their newsroom counterparts. Here’s what that means for your pitch.
The staggering loss of journalists has had a tremendous effect on the PR industry.
New employment data from the U.S. Department of Labor illustrates just how dramatically the media relations landscape has shifted.
As journalist Mike Rosenberg explained in a 2016 piece for Muck Rack, if you search terms like “journalism” or “reporter,” in a job search, you’re more likely to find a list of jobs that have virtually nothing to do with news or news production.
When that piece was published just two years ago, there were nearly five PR professionals for every single reporter, double the rate from the decade before.
Today, that ratio has increased even further, to nearly six PR pros for every journalist, and this trend doesn’t show signs of slowing down.
Full time journalism employment continues to decline
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Survey, newsroom employment in the U.S. dropped 23 percent between 2008 and 2017.
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