10 top media trends for 2021

Editor’s note: This article is a re-run as part of our countdown of top stories from the past year.

To call 2020 unique would be the understatement of century. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis changed how people live and how industries operate. Media and media relations was no exception.

While some of the latest developments have been brewing for a while in response to the internet revolution, many are the direct result of reactions to the pandemic. Here are 10 developments all media relations pros should track:

1. The click is king. As most print media outlets are now operating online, a story’s importance is now based by how many clicks and shares it gets. Do more clicks and shares mean the story is more relevant? Maybe, maybe not. But it is now how a journalist’s success is measured at most outlets today.

2. Remote interviews are the new norm. Remote interviews for TV and online media outlets have always been done, but were never preferred and usually reserved for important news sources. With social distancing in place, it was now necessary for all but rare exceptions, and for public relations professionals, this meant training clients to make skype interviews interesting. With the improved technology that most stations now have in place, we can expect this trend to continue.