In 2025, crisis communications has evolved far beyond the reactive firefighting that once defined the practice. Across Telum Media’s coverage this year - from APAC to the Middle East - communicators weren’t just responding to incidents; they were building systems. What used to be statement-first work is now a capability-led function, grounded in rehearsal, alignment, and credibility under pressure.
In a forward-looking conversation, Blackland PR set the tone early, forecasting “a tough year for communicators in New Zealand” and urging organisations to be upfront sooner rather than later. The agency's analysis suggests the modern playbook is less about responding faster and more about being ready earlier.
AI and crisis readiness
Technology has reshaped preparedness in 2025, with AI shifting from a novelty to a structured planning system. The question is no longer what tools exist, but how teams train with them.
Branson and Ayliffe's crisis consulting offering and FINN Partners’ AI-powered crisis training platform mirrored this direction, signalling that simulation-based readiness has become a standard expectation. Preparedness has moved from asking ‘what if’ to planning for ‘when it happens,’ with teams stress-testing messaging, identifying weak points, and running spokespeople through real-world scenarios.
A study from Sefiani and insights from Craig Badings, Partner and Head of Reputation at SenateSHJ, affirmed the same cultural shift: crisis response is operational, not optional.
Context and judgement
If technology is reshaping systems, context continues to guide judgement. No two crises are the same, and communicators must strike the balance between transparency and privacy, as well as public interest and potential harm. As Polly Cunanan, Head of Communications, APAC at Médecins Sans Frontières, noted, “The decision to make a public statement is rooted in the principle of témoignage, which means ‘bearing witness’ to what its teams see on the ground.”
Similarly, Shehana Darda-Teixeira, Executive Director, Communications and Engagement at the NSW Reconstruction Authority, emphasised on purpose-first messaging, in which communications should support people in trauma, not simply acknowledge events.
Internal alignment in crisis response
Even the strongest frameworks can fall apart when internal alignment is missing. In a discussion with four agency leaders, one theme stood out: crises move at viral speed, making it critical for leadership, legal, operations, and communications to align before the narrative takes over.
As Douglas Wright, Chief Executive Officer at Wrights Communication, warned, in today’s “digital circus”, collateral damage is no longer a possibility; it’s a certainty. When the risk shows, said Julia In, Director, Media and Spokesperson Training, JIN Consulting, PR is "a triage unit, streamlining communications and implementing protocols across management and staff."
Yet it's always better to practice prevention than containment. Ong Hock Chuan, Managing Partner at Maverick Indonesia, stressed that communications must be embedded in board-level risk planning to judge whether an incident is blameless or an ethical breach. Because once it contradicts corporate values, warned Loretta Ahmed, Founder and CEO at Houbara Communications, private conduct becomes corporate risk.
Taken together, these perspectives show a simple reality: teams must establish internal consensus on values, thresholds, and response pathways early, because trust cannot be improvised in the middle of a crisis. The views of Carolyn Devanayagam and Hin-Yan Wong at Weber Shandwick echoed this shift, adding that clients now expect agencies to integrate directly into crisis workflows rather than operate at the edges.
Recovery and reputational rebuilding
No crisis plan is complete without a recovery pathway. How an organisation behaves after the immediate incident determines whether trust is restored or further eroded. In an interview with Nicole Reaney, CEO & Founder at InsideOut Public Relations, she framed recovery as a stepwise process: acknowledge mistakes, take responsibility, and follow through with action. Her view reflects a wider trend - rebuilding trust takes time and consistent effort.
Adam Harper, Founder & Managing Partner at Ashbury, shared a similar approach, urging brands to communicate from values, not convenience. Alice Smith, APAC Communications Lead at Shopify, added that timely, transparent, and empathetic communication is critical to restore reputational trust and foster long-term loyalty.
These insights align with findings from the Oxford–GlobeScan Global Corporate Affairs Survey, which show that crisis awareness is no longer siloed in communications but embedded across corporate strategy. As uncertainty and political polarisation continue, organisations are returning to human-centred fundamentals: clear, proactive communication, strong stakeholder engagement, and relationship-building that earns trust over time.
What's next?
If 2025 strengthened the crisis playbook, 2026 will test whether these lessons take root. As Maggie Au, Head of Client Services at FCR, pointed out, communication isn’t just about sending messages; it’s a key part of strategy, shaped by politics, local context, and societal expectations.
Organisations that identify issues early, embed learnings into daily operations, and treat crisis readiness as an ongoing discipline will be better positioned to respond effectively and lead with resilience when the next disruption arrives.
Event wrap-up: Telum Talks To: The National
bp welcomes Director of Government Affairs
You might also enjoy
.jpg)
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.
.jpg)