Martha Jennings and Jeremy Campbell: 2024 State of the Media

July 25, 2024 |Allison Lester

On this episode of MisInterPReted Fletcher Director of Media Relations, Allison Lester talks with two newsroom managers about the state of the U.S. media and what public relations/media relations professionals can learn from their insight.

Martha Jennings, WRAL’s Managing Editor, coordinates assignments and staffing for Raleigh, NC’s #1 news station. She was the News Director for WBIR, in Knoxville, TN. an executive producer for WFLA, in Tampa, FL. and a producer for WRAL and WCBD. She’s a graduate of the University of South Carolina. 

With over 25 years of media experience, Jeremy Campbell is Managing Director at Spectrum News in New York City, where he oversees coverage and staff within two 24-hour newsrooms: NY1 and NY1 Noticias.

His work has reached millions of viewers through TV, digital, and non-traditional platforms – and has been used as an educational tool by the U.S. State Department to train international journalists.  He believes “one story can make a difference, and a team of journalists can change the world.”

Both have won *numerous media awards from Edward R. Murrow awards to Emmy’s – just to name a few.

As PR professionals, we are always interested in the ever-evolving state of the U.S. media and how it relates to media relations efforts. We have looked over the annual surveys conducted by both Cision and Muckrack – two large PR/Communications platforms. They conduct these surveys every year polling and interviewing thousands of journalists across the country – and found similar findings.

Topics Discussed:

  • Biggest changes in the industry in the past five years
  • Maintaining credibility as a trusted news source
  • The Muckrack survey says 70% of journalists say PR pros are either important or very important to the success of their jobs, but fewer than half actually respond to PR pitches – Why?
  • Tips for pitching journalists?
  • What not to do when pitching a local journalist
  • Predictions for the future of journalism

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