#WPRD2026 | Muck Rack finds journalists are harder to reach despite AI advances
That's according to Muck Rack's State of PR 2026 report, which surveyed 971 PR professionals, predominantly from agencies and brands in the US, between May and June 2026. While AI adoption has become mainstream, the research suggests communicators are balancing new technology with traditional media relations, even as securing earned media becomes increasingly difficult.
AI is now business as usual
Four in five (80%) PR professionals say they already use generative AI in their daily workflows, while 61% believe AI and automation will become even more important over the next five years, making it the profession's top strategic priority.
But rather than replacing traditional PR skills, AI appears to be complementing them. Media relations ranked as the second-fastest growing priority for the future, selected by 48% of respondents, up significantly from 35% last year. Strategic planning (32%) and reputation management (30%) rounded out the top priorities.
The findings suggest that as AI reshapes communications, strong relationships with journalists remain central to the profession.
Winning earned media is getting harder
If there is one issue uniting PR professionals, it is the increasing difficulty of earning editorial coverage.
More than seven in 10 respondents (71%) said low response rates from journalists are the biggest obstacle to securing earned media, while 61% pointed to shrinking media lists as newsrooms continue to contract. Increased competition for coverage (43%), a lack of newsworthy stories (36%) and faster news cycles (36%) also featured prominently. Just 2% said earning media coverage has not become more difficult.
Ironically, despite shrinking media lists, nearly half (49%) of PR professionals still pitch more than 20 journalists for every campaign or announcement. At the same time, 66% say they usually or always personalise their pitches, although most admit that personalisation often amounts to changing only a few sentences rather than rewriting an entire pitch.
GEO enters the communications lexicon
One of the report's emerging themes is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) — the practice of improving visibility in AI-generated search results and responses.
Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents said GEO is at least somewhat important to their communications strategy. Yet organisations are still working out who should own it. Almost a third (29%) said no one is responsible for GEO within their organisation, while a further 13% were unsure.
Where organisations are taking action, PR teams are increasingly focusing on authority-building. More than half (55%) said they are targeting coverage in high-authority publications to improve their visibility in AI-generated answers. Half are creating more authoritative, data-driven content and optimising content for search, while 44% are restructuring content with clearer answers and FAQ-style formats that AI systems can more easily interpret.
However, measuring success remains a challenge. Almost four in 10 (39%) organisations are not measuring GEO at all, highlighting how early the discipline still is.
Long hours remain the norm
The report also paints a picture of a profession under sustained pressure.
More than half (55%) of respondents worked over 40 hours during the previous week, while 77% worked outside normal business hours at least once. Two-thirds (66%) rated their recent work stress levels above the midpoint on a 10-point scale.
Despite these pressures, PR professionals generally feel their work is recognised internally. Around two-thirds believe leadership values the communications function, while 67% say their communications and marketing teams are closely aligned on strategy and goals.
Measurement matters more than ever
When asked how PR can improve its standing with leadership, respondents were overwhelmingly clear: prove business impact.
Nearly seven in 10 (69%) said producing measurable results is the best way to increase the perceived value of PR, far ahead of improving executive visibility, delivering more creative ideas or focusing on reputation management.
Meanwhile, thought leadership continues to occupy a larger share of PR professionals' workloads, with 51% saying it now accounts for at least a quarter of their role.
LinkedIn remains PR's platform of choice
LinkedIn continues to dominate the communications landscape.
Six in 10 respondents named it as the most valuable social platform for PR work, well ahead of Instagram (18%), while 87% said LinkedIn forms part of their organisation's communications strategy. Instagram followed at 72%, with Facebook (54%), YouTube (43%) and X (34%) completing the top five.
The findings suggest that while AI is rapidly changing how communications professionals work, the fundamentals of PR remain unchanged: building credibility, securing trusted media coverage and demonstrating measurable business val
