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While PR pitches play a major role in shaping what stories journalists cover, Muck Rack’s “State of Journalism 2026” report says that there are several ways PR pros could improve the chance of their pitches making it on to a media platform.
The report is based on the opinions of close to 900 journalists, who were surveyed between January 30 and March 2 of this year.
More than eight out 10 (86 percent) said that at least some of their stories start with a PR pitch. Although only five percent use pitches as a starting point for more than half of their stories, 12 percent take inspiration for 16 to 50 percent of their stores from pitches, and 17 percent begin from a pitch for 11 to 25 percent of their coverage. Only 14 percent reported never using a pitch.
The biggest reason for a journalist passing on a pitch? It doesn’t land on their beat. Almost nine out of 10 (88 percent) of those surveyed said they immediately disregard a pitch that does not match up with their coverage area.
Pitches are often seen as indifferent to the community that the journalist serves. Only three percent said that the pitches they get always reflect the community targeted by their outlet, with just 13 percent saying that they “usually” do. A third (34 percent) say that pitches hit the mark “about half the time,” 44 percent say they “seldom” do, and seven percent give pitches a solid zero, “never” matching up with the journalist’s target audience.
Another must to avoid: Pitches that come off as overly promotional or advertorial, with 71 percent rejecting those. Other reasons for immediate dismissal are pitches that look like a mass email (50 percent), are sent repeatedly without response (46 percent) or are either unclear or too long (40 percent).
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So what helps a pitch connect with a journalist? To start out, send your pitch out early in the day. More than three-quarters (78 percent) of respondents said they want to receive pitches before noon. Keeping it short is another plus, with most journalists preferring pitches of 200 words or less.
Tailoring each pitch to its participant is also seen as important, with 62 percent of the respondents saying they would rather be pitched via 1:1 email rather than through a blanket approach.
Muck Rack’s study also looked at the hurdles that journalists face in doing their jobs. The two top problems facing the profession, respondents say, are a lack of funding and the prevalence of misinformation, both cited by 32 percent. However, the unregulated or unchecked use of AI is rapidly growing as a concern, up eight percentage points to 26 percent.
A significant group of respondents also cited a lack of sufficient time to do their jobs properly. While more than half (57 percent) said they “always” or “usually” have enough to complete their journalistic work to their standards, 27 percent downgraded that to “sometimes” and 14 percent said “rarely.”
Muck Rack’s report also examines such topics as which social media platform is seen as the most trusted source of information (LinkedIn, 47 percent) and which one is most valuable to their work (Facebook, at 28 percent).
Despite any hurdles, a slim majority of respondents believe their organization is relatively stable in the long term, with 21 calling themselves “very confident,” 35 percent “somewhat confident” and 15 percent as “neutral” as regards their organization’s prospects.
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