2025 saw an interesting twist in the media ecosystem. It wasn’t just faster, it was structurally different. Newsrooms were leaner, journalists were covering narrower beats, and AI had become part of the reporting workflow, from research to summarisation. In this space, journalists didn’t publicly complain about the changes, however, a pattern of professional frustration emerged in the corner.
From agency-side conversations with reporters and editors across business, technology, and policy beats, the issue wasn’t volume alone. It was a misalignment with how journalism now works. What follows are the most consistent complaints we heard in 2025, and what they signal for PR professionals going forward.
Pitches set for algorithms alone, not for editorial perspective
On the one hand, nearly every brand changes its content strategy to optimize it according to the AI updates. But some felt overwhelmed with how many pitches felt engineered for only search engines and AI discovery, rather than for reporting. As generative search and AI summaries gained prominence, PR content mirrored blog-style narratives, keyword-forward headlines, trend-stacked intros, and overly resolved conclusions.
Journalists noted that while discoverability matters, editorial decisions are still driven by different criteria. This includes novelty, relevance, and unanswered questions. This tension reflects a considerable industry shift. According to research, more than 80% of journalists globally now use AI tools for background research or summarisation, but only 13% have a proper AI policy in place.
This shift has made reporters more selective about what they pursue as original coverage. Content that already reads like a finished article often leaves little room for reporting. From a PR standpoint, the lesson was clear in 2025 that the content designed to be found is not automatically content worth covering.
Trend participation without a distinct perspective
Another recurring frustration was trend saturation. In 2025, dominant narratives such as AI regulation, fintech compliance, climate data, digital public infrastructure, and creator economy triggered predictable waves of similar pitches. Journalists didn’t object to brands entering these conversations. They questioned why so many entries sounded interchangeable.
Editors shared that they often received multiple pitches tied to the same trend cycle, differentiated only by the companies’ names. It is hard to prioritize when newsroom resources are limited. Many reporters dismiss pitches for their typical nature rather than for lack of relevance.
As far as PR impact is concerned, the issue is structural, not stylistic. The baseline for advertising in all media, in 2025, is trends only. The determining factor in whether a brand receives media attention is its ability to offer an original viewpoint and new information on a subject. Hence, being timely was no longer enough. Being specific mattered more.
Relationship gaps in a hyper-specialised newsroom
Perhaps the most telling complaints in 2025 were about context, not content. As newsrooms continued to specialise, journalists increasingly covered tight intersections rather than broad sectors. “Technology” reporters focused on AI policy enforcement. “Fintech” reporters tracked payment infrastructure and regulatory compliance. “Business” reporters analysed second-order economic effects, not the announcements themselves.
Yet many pitches still reflected outdated assumptions about beats. Journalists noted that this disconnect created friction, not because PR teams lacked intent, but because they hadn’t adjusted to the evolution of beats. At the same time, reporters expressed fatigue with transactional outreach.
In a media cycle shaped by AI-assisted research, journalists valued sources who could help interpret complexity, not just supply quotes. Data-heavy pitches without methodology clarity or implications are often added to their workload.
At the same time, we have to take into account that expert-led insight is now one of the strongest drivers of credibility, surpassing brand messaging alone. In 2025, journalists increasingly prioritised consistent, knowledgeable sources over one-off newsmakers. For PR agencies, this marked a shift from output-driven pitching to relationship-driven engagement, where understanding a journalist’s evolving beat and offering informed interpretation became central.
What this means for PR going forward
From an agency perspective, these complaints weren’t rejections of PR. They were signals for change. Today, journalism focuses on clarity over polish, perspective over participation, and consistency over spikes in visibility.
Journalists weren’t asking for fewer pitches. They were asking for better-aligned contributions, ones that respected editorial judgment, reflected beat evolution, and added insight rather than noise. As AI continues to shape how stories are discovered and summarised, the role of PR is refined with its strategies. That alignment between how PR communicates and how journalism now functions is what sustained credibility last year, and it’s what will continue to matter next.