The Year In Review: How PR Changed In 2017

We are now a couple of weeks into 2018. Like nearly every year before, so much changed in 2017 and yet, not really. The media landscape continued to evolve: newsrooms sadly continued to shrink, the written word made way for more and more video and the bar continues to rise on what reporters are willing to cover.

In 2017, this was all further emphasized by the tumultuous US political climate, which caused the blinding national and international spotlights to be cast upon media organizations, how they are reporting on stories and whether or not they are "fake news." The increased pressure placed on journalists trickled down to more pressure on PR professionals and the businesses they represent to communicate more clearly and in a more immediate fashion. PR became even more important and influential within individual businesses as a result.

We asked several PR professionals what changed in 2017 so we can look to improve upon how we can all approach PR and the media in 2018. Here's what they had to say:

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"I think truth is more important than ever." 

-- Dave Yewman, co-founder of Elevator Speech and owner of DASH Consulting 

"I think the most pressing issue now is the whole “fake news” problem. Ignoring the huge political and social problems created when we undermine any possible independent agency that might question those in power, this is an enormous challenge for PR/communications. Where do you take your stories? How do you deal with it if someone cries “fake news” — which these days, is instantly believed?"

​-- Rory O'Connor, Founder and Chief Storyteller, Morcopy Communications

• "I'm not sure that it's surprising, but the trend I notice most is how many facets of the business that PR now impacts. More and more areas of the business are interested in PR or need guidance, especially around content, voice and tone. It continues to move away from just media relations to a newsroom approach."

-- Sandy Goldberg