Newsrooms have shrunk and audiences have scattered across platforms, which has many organisations asking whether the media release still earns its place. The short answer is yes. What has changed is the job it does.
For decades, the media release has been one of the most common ways organisations share news with journalists. As newsrooms shrink, audiences move across digital platforms and AI changes how people find information, it is fair to ask whether it still works.
It does, but it is no longer a document you send to a long list of journalists in the hope that someone runs it. In 2026, an effective media release has to carry genuine news value, make a journalist’s job easier, and earn its keep across more than one channel.
A media release still has a place, but it has to carry real news
Media releases remain a routine part of how organisations feed information to newsrooms. That does not mean every announcement belongs in the media. With fewer journalists handling more work, a release only earns attention when it carries something genuinely newsworthy, and the responsibility sits with you to send real news rather than fill the gap with thin updates. In practice, that means being honest about whether an announcement has a public interest angle, getting to know the kind of stories the journalists on your list actually cover, and only sending material that is timely and relevant to them. If it would not interest anyone outside your organisation, it is not a media release.
Start with news value, relevance and timing
Whether a journalist uses your release comes down largely to whether it contains something their audience will care about. A useful release lets a journalist see quickly what is happening, why it matters, who is affected and why it is relevant now. These reflect the news values newsrooms have long used to weigh a story, such as timeliness, impact, proximity, prominence, conflict and human interest. A new program, research finding or community initiative is far more likely to be covered when it shows real impact, a local connection or a timely hook. An announcement that only marks an organisation’s own milestone rarely clears that bar.
→ Read more: how newsrooms judge news value
Shrinking newsrooms make accurate, easy-to-use information more valuable
The pressure on Australian journalism is real. The ACMA reports that the number of people whose main job is journalism fell by 19 per cent between 2011 and 2021, with print journalists hardest hit, their numbers roughly halving over the period. A smaller workforce means journalists have less time to chase and verify stories, which raises the value of a release that hands them accurate facts, clear explanations, a credible spokesperson, supporting evidence and the right contact details. Material that is easy to understand and check helps a journalist decide quickly whether a story is worth pursuing. Quality beats volume: frequent but weak releases erode attention, while fewer, stronger ones build the relationships that lead to coverage.
The change is not only about numbers, but about how news is now made. Under financial pressure, Australian outlets are increasingly outsourcing and centralising their news operations. Network 10 has been in advanced talks to outsource production of its news bulletins to a rival outlet, along the lines of the United Kingdom’s ITN model, where a single newsroom supplies news to several broadcasters, and it has already cut news programming and roles. As production is consolidated across fewer people, accurate, well-packaged material from a source a journalist trusts becomes more useful, not less.
→ Read more: ACMA on Australia’s news workforce
→ Read more: Network 10 and the outsourcing of news
Send the photos, because photographers have been cut even harder
If the newsroom is stretched, its photographic desk is often stretched further. When Australian outlets have cut costs, staff photographers have been among the first to go. Fairfax moved much of its photography to Getty Images in 2014, and News Corp made most of its staff photographers redundant in 2017. The practical result is that a newsroom keen to run your story may have no one free to shoot it. A media release that arrives with strong, ready-to-use images removes that barrier. Supply a small set of high-resolution photos in both landscape and portrait, captioned with names, locations and a credit line, and cleared for publication. Good images can be the difference between a story that runs well and one that does not run at all.
→ Read more: what happened when newsrooms cut photographers
A release now has to work across a fragmented news environment
How people find news has changed. It no longer arrives only through newspapers, television or a visit to a news website. Audiences increasingly meet it on social media, video platforms and, more recently, AI tools. Meta discontinued its Facebook News tab in Australia and the United States in 2024, noting that news makes up less than three per cent of what people see in their Facebook feed. The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2026 describes the same shift on a larger scale, finding that for the first time social media and video networks have overtaken both television and news organisations’ own sites as the most widely used source of news, with AI tools emerging as a new way in. For your organisation, this means a media release is no longer only a tool for journalists. The facts inside it can feed website updates, newsletters, stakeholder communications and social content, so it is worth writing every release as a clear, reusable source of accurate information.
→ Read more: Meta on the Facebook News tab
→ Read more: the Digital News Report 2026
Relationships still matter: sending a release is not enough
Email distribution is still routine, but strong media relations depend on more than pushing information to a database. Personal contact with journalists and editors remains one of the most effective ways to pass on information, learn what they are interested in and build a working relationship, and a release often needs a follow-up to reach the right person. A short, well-judged conversation lets you offer context, tailor the angle and understand what a journalist actually needs, which no mass send can do.
Trust is what makes those relationships work, and it is built one release at a time. When the information you supply is accurate, clear and genuinely useful, a journalist learns they can rely on it, and they are more likely to open the next email, take the call and run the story. Get it wrong, or waste their time with something that is not news, and that credit is quickly spent. Media outreach works best when it is built on that kind of earned trust over time rather than on volume.
So media releases are still relevant. They are simply held to a higher standard now: real news value, accuracy, usable images, and a genuine relationship behind them. Used that way, they remain one of the most dependable tools a communicator has. If you would like help making your media releases work harder, we are always happy to talk. Book a free 30-minute call
Infodec Communications helps small businesses, government teams and not-for-profits with strategic communications, grant and tender writing and public relations.