CorpComms Magazine

Digital and social media resources are changing the way journalists find and pursue stories, with two in five financial journalists now holding accounts on Twitter, and over 50 per cent of those actively using the tool to search for news, according to the 2010 Digital Trends survey from financial public relations consultancy Broadgate Mainland.

Whilst 70 per cent of financial media tweeters use the microblogging site to keep abreast of developments flowing through the tweet stream, some are beginning to target individuals such as specialist commentators, other journalists, or companies and their PR teams, via the forum.

The search engine is fast becoming a journalist's primary port of call. More than 80 per cent of journalists in the financial sector say that the Internet has revolutionised research, with four out of five logging in to Google at least five times a day, a rise of six percentage points on last year.

Meanwhile, a more reciprocal relationship is developing between journalists, bloggers and readers. Almost three quarters of financial journalists say their editorial views are affected by reader feedback and online comments.

Although increasingly tapping into the social media resource, almost 100 per cent of the journalists surveyed said that their preferred channel for receiving PR pitches was still the traditional email. On the bright side, only two per cent of respondents said they did not like receiving press releases at all.

Corporate newsrooms came under fire. The main gripes were that press releases were not updated frequently enough, relevant information such as contact details was hard to find and too many newsrooms required password subscriptions. The primary charge levelled at PR professionals was their lack of speed. One respondent argued that they 'rarely operate in real‐time - they don't understand the need for immediacy.'

Sarah Evans-Toyne, head of digital strategy at Broadgate Mainland, said: 'We operate in a world of global media and digital channels spread news around the world in minutes, not hours. A local crisis can quickly take on international proportions so PRs need to monitor the same digital sources as the media to make sure they stay ahead of the game.'

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