Distrust in the media continues to decrease in the eyes of journalists but is still worryingly high, the latest State of the Media report from Cision reveals.

The global provider of earned media software and services to public relations and communications professional, surveyed the views of thousands of journalists and industry stakeholders in the UK and around the globe. The findings collated in the State of the Media 2020 report were the subject of a webinar attracting hundreds of participants yesterday (April 23, 2020).

The report – available to download here – included a special section on the effects of the Covid-19 emergency on the profession.

The report surveyed 3,253 journalists from all over the world to build a comprehensive picture of the industry for 2020

The bulletin points included:

• Covid-19 has changed the media outlook but also highlighted that many challenges have not changed for the profession.
• Almost 60 per cent of journalists believe there is still distrust in the media, but that figure is down from a high of 91 per cent in 2017.
• Social media continues to challenge media and journalists, but the heady promise of AI appears to be fading.
• PR outreach needs to be ever-more relevant and targeted to be effective

In a special section looking at the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on working journalists, the report focussed on the need for the media to provide relevant news and information but at the same time be aware of fatigue setting in with audiences.

Compared to 2019, the report finds, fewer journalists classified themselves as individuals and influencers, in part due to a trend of journalists seeking the security of working for a larger outlet in a tumultuous media landscape.

The report states, however, that fake news and attacks on freedom of the press were considered less of a challenge by journalists in the last year.

Almost a quarter of those surveyed felt staffing and resources were the greatest challenges the industry is facing, followed by social networkers and influencers bypassing traditional media and then fake news and attacks on press freedom.

The report also tackled other issues, including perceived bias in the industry, the impact of technology on the media landscape, and improving relationships between PRs and journalists.

Taking part were Sarah Vizard, news editor at Marketing Week, Rosie Hopegood; freelance Journalist writing for The Telegraph, Vice & The Guardian; Matt Cross, Head of B2B at Hotwire; Ian Murray, Executive Director at Society of Editors; Eleanor Mills, Chairperson at Women in Journalism and Cheryl Douglas, Global Director of Media Research Operations at Cision.

More than 1,300 people registered to take part in the event which can be watched by visiting here.