As we reach 2025, among the welter of challenges facing PR, one thing remains constant: media relations. It’s the special sauce of PR, the bit that no-one else does. As many as 83% of PRs identify it as their most time-consuming task, according to MuckRack data. It’s also a source of frustration and burnout, exasperating many a PR person, client and journalist.

So I asked some of the industry’s leaders whether they think media relations are broken beyond repair, or if we can turn things around.

Does media relations have a ‘spray and pray’ problem?

Bethan Williams, senior PR consultant at Speed Communications: “This can happen for several reasons, but can be mitigated through investing time in building the media relations component of any campaign or news alert, investing in training to help educate teams and building relationships.”

Sean Allen-Moy, head of media relations strategy at Burson: “There's no excuse for this. There are tools and platforms that remove the need for guesswork and wasted time. There is more pressure than ever on both journalists and comms professionals, if you're not using your time and resources smartly you're not going to deliver impactful coverage for your clients.”

Nick Braund, founder at Words + Pixels: “The key to better media relations is focus. For too long, the art of media relations has been viewed as the lesser form of PR, behind activations and stunts. Agencies that don't prioritise the highest quality with their pitching will fail.”

What will AI’s role be in 2025?

Matt Jamieson, head of media strategy at FleishmanHillard UK: “It’s impossible to talk about AI without risking clichés or descending into hyperbole; that said, I genuinely believe it is a disruptive force that will fundamentally recalibrate our relationship with media. AI brings both challenges and opportunities. When it comes to media relations specifically, I’d advise exercising caution in how we apply AI. Media outlets, now more than ever, require exclusivity, unique insights, and content that sets them apart from competitors. In short: use AI to supplement and enhance your work; don’t use it to replace the human elements of creativity, judgement and relationship-building that are all necessary in media relations today.”

Has media relations become too transactional?

Williams: “Personal relationships, interpersonal skills and pleasantries are all still important. Every PR and journalist will have their preferred way of working, receiving data and news, and getting follow-ups. Tech tools can support in building these relationships – but they should always be used to complement your own work, expertise and knowledge.

Natasha Hill, MD at Bottle PR: “It is transactional in a sense that if you give the journalists what they want, quickly, they will reciprocate. There’s not much time for personal relationships. Being dependable for opinionated comments from experts and being able to work to tight deadlines is a sure way of building a rewarding relationship with a journalist.”

Allen-Moy: “Effective media relations relies on a combination of art and science. The art is the journalist relationships built by our teams, the instincts of our publicists, and experience we have from former journalists. The science is where we bring in data and insight to identify and target the right outlets with stories and assets that will deliver coverage for clients.”

Is there a role for a more marketplace approach, like a Rightmove for selling in PR, stories, where journalists find what they want and avoid the email deluge?

Braund: “I could never be a journalist. Working through thousands of irrelevant pitches to find that story that they want to write and someone wants to read. It's brutal. Anything that truly helps that process would be beneficial to both sides.”

How to supercharge next year

Jamieson: “Be hyper-targeted and hyper-relevant. Know what you’re pitching and know who you’re pitching to. It might sound basic, but it’s worrying how often PR fails on this. Media relations, once the cornerstone of PR, has evolved into a true specialism over the last ten years or so. This shift reflects the rise of digital and social, the blending of earned, paid, and owned media and a growing reliance on templated, automated approaches that end up killing, not nurturing, relationships. Some of my best contacts candidly vent to me about the deluge of irrelevant PR pitches they receive, pitches from people who simply ‘don’t get it’. There are still too many PRs pitching without truly understanding the journalist’s audience or agenda. This is why thoughtful, tailored outreach isn’t optional; it’s the price of admission.”

Clearly 2025 needs to be the year we say goodbye to spray-and-pray emails and instead focus on a personalised approach to PR that’s enhanced by technology.