SC Investigates: A Deep-Dive into Today’s Media Landscape

When was the last time you picked up a magazine or a newspaper? Your answer should already give you an indication of the current state of the media landscape in Canada. Today, over 50% of people get their news on social media, whether it be via Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. 

In the past, publishing houses worked with large-scale editorial teams who worked on magazine issues on a monthly or daily basis, then they started to expand their digital teams as an add-on. Now, digital content takes priority and previous print-only editors work on both print and digital content, or (due to shrinking production budgets and circulation), they contract out journalists on a freelance basis. Now, instead of a single media outlet having a team of three to five editors per vertical, they may now only have one and upwards of 10 different journalists they hire on a freelance basis. 

This shift may seem positive to the consumer (more diversified content from different perspectives, less of a monopoly on influence), but there are several key call-outs for the PR community:

• Fewer print coverage opportunities
• More expensive print advertorials (and more of a demand for advertorials in general)
• Ever-evolving media contact list (one person may create content for one outlet today and a different one tomorrow)

One thing is ever-constant: the power of relationship-building and maintenance. Being able to tap into journalist friendlies to understand what stories they are working on, and for outlets, on any given moment is endlessly valuable. Additionally, they are able to offer strong insight into what content performs best, and on which platforms. Armed with this information, public relations pros are better able to support their brands/clients on their media relations strategies. Although it may seem sometimes like influencers on social media have taken the place of journalists, influencers are not the same as journalists. Influencers offer personal opinion-based, timely, short-form content, whereas journalists offer fact-centred, historically credible (via the outlet!), long-form content. Both play a valuable role in the media ecosystem as there are people who gravitate towards different styles of content (or a mixed buffet or content) on any given day. Brands also need the combination of the two to ensure their product or brand stories are being told in every way to reach the largest number of people.

We would be remiss if we didn’t stress the importance of supporting media partners. It’s easy to get excited by the quick results generated by influencers, but they only serve as one piece of the larger pie. Supporting media outlets is not just limited to consuming content, but as public relations professionals we have a responsibility to invest in them financially. If we want to keep this part of the media landscape alive (and we need to), then we also need to pursue the paid opportunities available, whether it be through traditional advertisements or through advertorial placements. These may have seen like a “nice-to-have” in the past, but today they are a “need-to-have” in order to ensure there are opportunities for organic coverage. If these media outlets don’t have the funds to keep supporting their teams and producing coverage, there won’t be any “pages” (whether print or digital) for paid or organic opportunities. Where does your brand storytelling go then? In a 30-second influencer IG Reel? Good luck getting it 100% right without sounding overly scripted and then losing the consumer’s loyalty.  

We don’t want to sound like a broken record (since everyone SHOULD KNOW the importance of having a thriving newsroom with journalists who fact check and deliver beautifully written, accurate pieces), but we will. Support your media friends, we want to ensure they keep supporting us too!