Strategic communication consultancy, SenateSHJ, has just released its Future of Reputation 2030 global report. The report indicated that a surge in reputation risks will force boards and executives to shape new systems of resilience across their organisations.
Based on 44 in-depth interviews with global experts in corporate reputation, communications, public affairs, and risk management, the report reveals how the foundations of reputation are shifting - what builds it, what breaks it and what will define credibility as we approach 2030.
Craig Badings, Partner and Co-lead, Reputation Practice at SenateSHJ, who conducted the interviews, said: "Boards, senior executives and corporate affairs leaders need to prepare for unprecedented levels of scrutiny, complexity and stakeholder expectations, with reputation increasingly determined by how organisations and their leadership behave - not by what they say."
Eight themes emerged from the interviews which are reshaping reputation:
Global reputation risk landscape: Navigating an age of uncertainty
The report found that reputation risk is becoming borderless and harder to control. This is driven by factors such as geopolitics, cultural asymmetry, AI disruption, shareholder pressure, and a surge in mis- and disinformation. What builds trust in one market can damage it in another, and neutrality is increasingly seen as complicity.
Leaders have to balance divergent expectations, act faster than misinformation spreads, and build credibility ahead of crises. In a multi-reality environment, proactive "fact-fighting" and cross-functional coordination are now essential.
Trust and accountability: The currency of credible reputation
There was a consensus that trust and reputation are inseparable. "Trust drives reputation. It’s the micro to reputation’s macro," said Alan Chumley, Senior Vice President at SignalAI. Trust is earned through values lived consistently, transparent decision-making and credible behaviour, not messaging.
In a hyper-scrutinised world, trust is fragile yet recoverable when leaders show competence and accountability. Reputation resilience comes from functional integrity rather than perception management. Elliot Schreiber, Consultant Board of Directors and Leaders and Author of The Yin and Yang of Reputation Management, summed it up: "Trust is not a value - it's a verdict. It's the judgement stakeholders make when they see consistency over time," and experts agreed that trustworthy behaviours are the true currency of reputation.
Leadership, culture and behaviour: The human architecture of trust
Across the respondents' answers, one message stayed consistent: reputation begins within and is determined by how leaders think, decide and act. Trustworthiness is built - or broken - by how leaders behave, reinforce values and shape everyday decisions. Culture emerged as the strongest driver of reputation: employees echo what leaders model, and inconsistency becomes visible fast.
It was also revealed that reputation resilience begins with leadership conduct, cultural alignment and accountability at the top, and that reputation strength depends on whether leaders can connect strategy, behaviour and communication coherently across the organisation.
A point was also raised from a crisis perspective - corporate crises often stem from internal culture and behaviour, not external shocks, with leadership at the centre of risk. Reputation is safeguarded not by process, but by ethically and emotionally prepared people who act with accountability under pressure.
Stakeholder complexity and polarisation: Coherence as the new leadership currency
Global experts who were interviewed agree that the era of one-size-fits-all communication is over. Reputation now sits in a fractured stakeholder ecosystem shaped by divergent expectations, ideological polarisation and competing truths.
Paul Stamsnijder, Founding Partner at Reputatiegroep, described the shift as a complete inversion of the traditional model: "The orientation in building reputation has shifted from inside-out to outside-in. Where organisations once sought to control their message, they now must earn consent through dialogue."
Coherence, empathy and consistency are seen as a core to leaders and matter more than consensus, as silence is increasingly seen as a stance. With misinformation rising and geopolitical pressures intensifying, organisations must read the room, adapt to diverse expectations, and engage stakeholders with credibility.
Technology and AI: Sentinel and saboteur
Technology and AI are accelerating reputational risk, amplifying crises and reshaping how opinions form. Experts warned that while AI offers real-time insight, prediction and scale, it also mirrors organisational bias, spreads misinformation faster than truth, and erodes editorial safeguards. Automation without accountability creates new integrity risks, making ethical governance essential.
The consensus is that AI can inform, but only humans can judge. In an AI-saturated landscape, humanity, authenticity, and moral clarity matter more than ever.
Measurement, data and governance: The metrics of modern reputation management
Reputation measurement is shifting from instinct to evidence, but experts warn that numbers mean little without clarity, governance and context. Reputation lives in stakeholder perception, not dashboards, and single metrics risk oversimplifying complex human judgement.
Effective measurement links drivers to outcomes, guides decisions, and reveals behaviour. As data gains predictive power, governance becomes the architecture of trust, shifting measurement from compliance to conscience.
Crisis, recovery and humility: The hard road back
Across the interviews, experts consistently agreed that crises expose culture more than they damage it. Reputation fails not from the incident itself but from denial, delay and defensive messaging.
When talking about the actions to take in a crisis, Alan Chumley and Scott Sayres used almost the same words: "Own it, respond quickly even if partially, acknowledge, fix it, show empathy and humility." Effective crisis response requires speed, humility, accountability, and alignment of words with actions - regret, responsibility, and remedial action.
Trust is rebuilt through empathy and moral courage, while preparedness, strong governance, and pre-existing trust equity determine the pace and success of recovery.
Purpose and values alignment: Reputation's moral compass
Experts agree that values - rather than campaigns - are the differentiator of reputation.
As Patricia Santa Marina, Founder at MINERBA Corporate Communication, said: "Reputation over everything. Even if you temporarily lose money, reputation is more important."
Purpose only creates trust when it is lived consistently through behaviour, culture and governance. Misalignment between stated values and real decisions is said to be the root of many reputational failures, while predictability and accountability form the "DNA of trust".
With public cynicism rising, interviewees warned against corporate virtue signalling, with multiple respondents claiming that purpose - which was once a differentiator - has now become an overused and unconvincing corporate trope. Organisations must behave their way into credibility, embedding purpose as a governance system rather than a slogan.
The Future of Reputation 2030 report also contains SenateSHJ's 5SL Framework for building reputation resilience, which the agency describes as "...a practical architecture, outlining six disciplines that can turn integrity into a measurable, repeatable and resilient organisational capability."
The full report, which includes predictions and tips for leaders for each theme, can be found here.
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Every few years, someone declares the death of the media release.
Today, the arguments sound familiar. Journalists don't read them anymore. Everything is social-first. AI is replacing traditional media outreach. It's all about the pitch. Press releases are becoming little more than AI-generated filler.
And yet, when we speak with journalists across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, a different picture emerges.
Media releases aren't dead, but expectations around them have changed significantly.
We've analysed more than 10,000 Journalist Interest Survey responses in the Telum Media platform collected over the past five years, alongside insights gathered from conversations with editors, reporters, and producers across the region.
Key takeaways:
- Journalists still value useful PR content
- Relevance matters more than reach
- The pitch and the release serve different roles
- The best releases reduce friction for journalists
- Modern releases need to support multiple platforms
The conclusion is clear: journalists still value media releases, but they value them for different reasons than they once did.
The media release has evolved from a distribution tool into something far more strategic.
The media release is no longer the story
For decades, many PR professionals treated the media release as the centrepiece of media relations activity.
Write the release. Send it widely. Hope for coverage - “spray and pray”.
That approach was far from perfect, but you could get away with it in an era when newsrooms were larger, competition for attention was lower, and journalists had more time to evaluate incoming information.
Today's reality is very different.
Journalists are producing content across multiple platforms, often with smaller teams and tighter deadlines. Their inboxes are flooded with pitches, announcements, thought leadership submissions, and increasingly, AI-generated content.
As a result, journalists have become far more selective about what earns their attention.
The modern media release is no longer just about news stories. It has become a source-of-truth asset, a newsroom resource, and a content hub that supports broader communications activity.
The best PR teams understand this shift.
“The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase: ‘Understand what I cover’. Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement.”
What journalists are actually rejecting
One of the most revealing findings from our analysis is that journalists are not rejecting PR content altogether.
What they're rejecting is low-value outreach.
Across thousands of responses, the same frustrations appeared repeatedly:
- Irrelevant pitches
- Generic outreach
- Mass distribution
- Weak story angles
- Excessive follow-ups
In other words, this is less a rejection of media releases and more a rejection of poor media relations practice.
The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase:
"Understand what I cover."
Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement. In fact, our journalist surveys over the past two years have seen a sharp increase in a desire for both relevance and personalisation in pitches.
Journalists increasingly assess pitches within seconds. If the connection to their beat, audience, or current priorities isn't immediately obvious, the opportunity is often lost before the email is even opened.
The pitch and the release have different jobs
One of the biggest misconceptions in modern media relations is treating the pitch and the release as the same thing.
They are not.
The pitch exists to earn attention; the release exists to support the story.
The best pitches are:
- Brief
- Human
- Relevant
- Contextual
- Conversational
The best releases are:
- Structured
- Factual
- Complete
- Reusable
- Easy to reference
At a recent Telum Media event, a senior journalist described the fastest way to kill a pitch with a single word: “Respect”. Or a lack thereof.
A generic greeting. A story unrelated to their beat. A mass-produced email that demonstrates no understanding of their audience.
All signal a lack of respect for the journalist's time and expertise.
High-performing PR teams increasingly write pitches and releases for different audiences. The pitch is written for the journalist. The release is written for the journalist's audience.
That distinction matters.
Why journalists still value media releases
Despite predictions of their demise, journalists continue to actively request media releases.
But they want releases that help them work more efficiently.
The most common requests include concise writing, clear headlines, strong news angles, supporting data (with downloadable images and assets), spokesperson access, and easy-to-use formats.
These preferences reveal the modern role of the release: it functions as a workflow tool.
A strong release helps journalists:
- Understand the story quickly
- Verify information
- Access supporting materials
- Build content efficiently
The best releases reduce friction. And in today's newsroom environment, reducing friction is often more valuable than generating hype.
Think beyond media coverage
Another major shift is that media releases are increasingly serving multiple audiences.
A modern release doesn’t just support journalists; it might also support clients and prospects, employees, investors and analysts, partners, and search visibility.
Rather than creating a single-use document, leading communications teams are building content ecosystems.
The release becomes the foundation for:
- Media outreach
- Newsroom content
- Executive communications
- Social media content
- Email campaigns
- Sales collateral
- Thought leadership activity
This approach not only improves consistency but also increases the return on investment from every announcement.
The role of the modern media release
Not every story needs a release
Perhaps one of the most important lessons is recognising when a media release is the wrong tool.
Releases tend to perform best when there is:
- Genuine news value
- Multiple stakeholder audiences
- A need for factual consistency
- Strong supporting assets
- Broader business significance
They are often less effective for internal milestones framed as major news (or self-congratulatory announcements), generic thought leadership, and untargeted mass outreach.
In some situations, a targeted pitch, LinkedIn strategy, executive commentary programme, or direct relationship-based outreach may be more effective.
Good communications strategy isn't about defaulting to a media release; it's about choosing the right tool for the objective.
A framework for modern media releases
If there is one word that captures what journalists are asking for today, it is respect.
At Telum Media, we summarise this through the RESPECT framework:
R – Relevance
Make it relevant to the journalist, their audience and the moment.
E – Efficiency
Help journalists work faster through clear, concise, and usable content.
S – Substance
Provide genuine value through expertise, data, insight, or access.
P – Personalisation
Demonstrate that you've done your homework.
E – Ecosystem
Think beyond the release and consider how it supports broader communications goals.
C – Clarity
Make the key message immediately obvious.
T – Timing
Reach out at the right time, not simply any time.
What journalists are asking for in a pitch / media release: RESPECT
The future of the media release
The debate over whether media releases are dead misses the point.
The more useful question is how do we make releases work better in today’s media environment?
Journalists still value relevant information, credible sources, strong story angles, and efficient communication. Media releases continue to play an important role in delivering those things.
But success today depends less on the existence of the release itself and more on how strategically it is used.
The media release remains a valuable communications tool.
Just not in the way many of us were taught to use it.
FAQs
Are media releases still useful in 2026?
Yes. Journalists still value media releases, but these days want targeted outreach, relevance to their beat, alignment with their audience, and contextual pitching.
What makes a media release useful to journalists?
Journalists are looking for releases in a format that helps them work efficiently. Which means releases that are concise, factual, with a clear angle, contain usable quotes, and come with downloadable assets and supporting data.
What is the difference between a pitch and a media release?
A pitch earns the journalist’s attention in their cluttered Inbox. A media release supports the story by providing structured, factual, and reusable information relevant to their audience.
With more than 30 years’ experience spanning journalism, corporate communications and media intelligence, Reuben Aitchison is Telum Media’s Head of Insights and Communications.
Explore Telum Media tools that help PR teams pitch with precision.
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