Job cuts across radio, TV, newspapers, and digital media rose 18% last year compared to 2024, and those still employed in the newsroom are feeling it acutely. That’s the most alarming finding in Cision’s 2026 State of the Media report, which surveyed 1,899 journalists across 19 global markets during January and February.
Respondents spanned the U.S., Canada, the UK, France, Germany, and multiple Asia-Pacific countries.
Combating misinformation topped the list of professional challenges, cited by 50% of respondents. But resource constraints like shrinking budgets, staff cuts, and an ever-expanding workload ranked a razor-thin second at 49%. Perhaps more telling: that figure has nearly doubled from the 29% who flagged the same concern in 2025.
Adapting to evolving audience behavior registered as a top challenge for 42% of journalists surveyed, while competition from nontraditional media and creators was cited by 28%.
It’s against that backdrop that AI adoption has accelerated in a meaningful way. The share of journalists telling Cision they don’t use AI tools at all dropped from 33% in 2025 to 21% in 2026. Most common applications include brainstorming story angles, interview questions, and headlines, cited by 48% of respondents; research and fact-checking at 43%; and transcription or summarization at 41%.
On the social media front, LinkedIn leads among journalists for professional use at 62%, followed by Instagram at 54% and Facebook at 53%. X/Twitter, long the de facto home base for media professionals, registered at just 37%. When asked to name the single most valuable platform, 33% of journalists across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific pointed to LinkedIn.
