As the song says “Way, way back many centuries ago…” (or so it feels), when I began my PR career, the internet hadn’t even been invented.
Just pause on that for a second.
No social media, no digital press rooms, no journalist request feeds landing in your inbox at 6:12am with a two-hour deadline. NO ONLINE SHOPPING!
Media relations was a very different beast.
In the days before the internet, you built relationships the long way. You called news desks, you sent press releases by fax – for you youngsters out there, it was a magical machine in the corner of the office that put printed out sheets of paper into and it sent it to someone else miles away – a bit like an email accompanied by loud screeching robotic noises….and every likelihood of paper jams. You maintained a meticulously organised Rolodex full of contacts you knew personally and, when you were starting out as an Account Exec, it was your job to keep the enormous ring bound media database directory up to date. Every week new pages arrived in the post and you had to replace the updated pages – the thing was definitely out of date before the next lot of pages arrived.
If a journalist needed expert commentary? They went to the people they already knew.
The Rolodex Era
Media relationships were built over lunches and landlines. Journalists had trusted go-to experts and we PRs had very carefully guarded contact lists.
It was slower, more relationship-driven and less democratic but eventually the graft was worth it when you became ‘known’. If you weren’t “known”, you probably weren’t going to be quoted.
The Real-Time Era
Fast forward to 2026 and the landscape has shifted dramatically. Journalists are now sourcing expert commentary via curated request platforms like Qwoted, Response Source and Source of Sources, as well as other specialist media-matching services.
Instead of calling a familiar contact, they can:
- Post a request
- Specify the exact expertise required
- Set a deadline (usually yesterday)
- Receive multiple qualified responses within hours
The sourcing process has become:
- Faster
- Broader
- More competitive
- More transparent
And crucially, more accessible.
You no longer need to be “known” to be quoted…but you do need to be ready.
The Opportunity (and the Risk)
On the surface, this feels like brilliant news for businesses. The gates have opened and access has widened making expert visibility more attainable than ever.
But here’s the catch:
Speed wins.
Clarity wins.
Preparedness wins.
Journalists working to tight digital deadlines don’t have time to refine your thoughts or wait for internal approvals.
They need:
- A sharp comment
- A credible spokesperson
- Delivered quickly
- With zero waffle
If your team is scrambling to draft something from scratch each time, you will miss the window.
Reactive PR has always been a ‘thing’…but now it’s moving front and centre
Responding to media requests isn’t an afterthought anymore, it’s a specialist skill.
Strong reactive PR requires:
- Pre-approved commentary themes
- Clearly positioned spokespeople
- Defined areas of expertise
- Fast sign-off processes
- Confidence in tone and authority
Relationships Still Matter
Just to be clear, the Rolodex isn’t obsolete and we will ALWAYS pick up the phone to a journalist and newsdesk rather than rely on email to sell in a story.
But the PR landscape has expanded.
Modern PR blends:
- Traditional relationship-building
- Strategic proactive storytelling
- Smart engagement with journalist request platforms
It’s no longer either/or.
It’s both/and.
So What Does This Mean for Businesses?
It means visibility now favours the prepared.
If your expertise isn’t clearly defined, documented and deployable, you’ll be overlooked, not because you’re not brilliant, but because someone else responded in 27 minutes instead of 2 days.
Media relations has evolved, and the businesses that thrive are the ones who understand that the new newsroom operates in real time.
And Monitoring? That’s Changed Too.
We no longer stand outside King’s Cross station at midnight waiting for the first editions and desperately turning newspaper pages hoping to see our clients’ names!
Coverage now appears in beautifully formatted reports before the day properly begins.
The mechanics are different.
The speed is different.
The expectations are different.
But one thing hasn’t changed – preparation beats panic.
The PR world has changed…dramatically.
The question is:
Is your business ready for how journalists actually work now?
Oh and if you are old enough to remember the opening song lyrics from your Primary School days, this 90’s throwback is right up your street!