I've been working in PR for almost twenty years. This industry has changed so much that sometimes I feel everything I learned when I started is basically useless now.
When I entered the industry in 2006, media relations was still simple. You had news, you contacted journalists, if they found it interesting they'd write about it, if not they wouldn't. That was it.
Back then I was working as an executive at a local PR firm, making 3,500 yuan a month (yes, that's what salaries were like back then). My job was to organize media lists, send faxes, and call to confirm journalists received them. Yes, faxes. In 2006, many newspapers still used fax machines to receive press releases.
2006: Fax machines, phone calls, and 200-person media lists
I remember very clearly, one day in 2007, our boss held a meeting and said we needed to start paying attention to "online media." Nobody in the office knew what online media meant at the time. We thought it just meant sending press releases to Sina and Sohu's email addresses.
Later we found out that wasn't quite it.
During these years, portal website editors became hot commodities. Traditional media journalists' status began to decline. Our media list expanded from 200 people to 800, with more than half being website editors. Back then, website editors basically accepted any content—pay and they'd publish (to be honest, it's still pretty much the same now).
After Weibo took off in 2012, everything changed.
Social media changed everything
I was responsible for the daily communications of a FMCG brand at the time. The client's marketing department told me that from now on, we didn't need to find journalists—just get influencers to repost. I thought to myself, how is this media relations? Isn't this just buying advertising? The client paid, we did as told.
During those years, our company's business structure completely changed. Traditional media relations went from 70% to 30% of our business, while social media went the opposite direction, from 30% to 70%. We hired a bunch of post-95s kids specifically to handle Weibo and WeChat. They called us old-timers "traditional PR."
I didn't really like that label. But they weren't wrong either.
In 2015, I jumped to a PR department at a 4A agency. Salary went up, work got more complicated. WeChat Official Accounts were rising then. We had to help clients create content, find KOLs, place Moments ads, and deal with various self-media "collaboration invitations" (meaning they wanted money to publish advertorials).
I stayed at that company for three years. The reason I left was simple: I couldn't stand explaining to clients every day why a single Official Account article cost 80,000 yuan. Clients thought it was expensive, I thought it was expensive too, but that's what the market price was.
In 2018, I started my own small studio. Just me and one assistant, taking on work from old clients. To be honest, I earn less than I did at the company, but I feel much better.
The agency years
Going independent
These past few years, short video has taken off. Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili—each platform has its own playbook. I'm 53 this year (yes, I was born in the 70s), and honestly, I can't keep up with these platforms. Now I mainly do traditional media relations and crisis PR, outsourcing social media work to younger people.
What Media Relations Looks Like Now
Let me share a few things I've observed.
Real journalists are becoming fewer and fewer. Of the journalists I knew when I entered the industry in 2006, less than one-tenth are still doing frontline reporting. Most have changed careers—gone to work in corporate PR, become self-media creators, or moved to other industries. Those who stayed either got promoted to management and stopped writing, or just stopped writing.
Getting published basically requires paying. I'm not talking about bribing journalists (that's illegal)—I mean officially priced "content partnerships." Most media outlets now have commercial cooperation departments. Whatever content you want to publish, just negotiate the price. Articles that get published purely on news value alone? You're lucky to get a few per year.
Self-media has thrown the entire industry into chaos. This might offend some people, but I'm going to say it anyway. Many self-media accounts' business model is: write negative stories, wait for companies to come knocking, take money to delete posts or publish positive pieces. I've seen way too many cases of this with my own eyes.
Clients understand media less and less. This isn't their fault—the media environment really is too complicated. I've had clients ask me if I could get CCTV to cover their company's annual party. I said no, and they thought I wasn't capable enough.
Mistakes I've Made Over the Years
Let me share a few of my own lessons.
I helped a client with a product launch event and invited over twenty media outlets. On the day of the launch, the product had a technical glitch, and the demonstration was completely ruined. I panicked and tried to get the journalists not to write about it. The next day, negative articles were everywhere.
When problems occur, don't try to cover them up—you can't. Better to proactively acknowledge them and provide solutions.
I planned a Weibo hashtag campaign for a client. It worked great and made the trending list. Later it was exposed that it was boosted by paid accounts (we did use some, but not that many). The client got slammed, and our company was called out by name too.
Don't try to game social media—the cost of getting caught is huge.
When I was at the 4A agency, I took on a crisis PR project. The client company had a food safety issue and wanted us to help "manage the comments." I was young then (actually not that young—I was forty), thought it was normal business, and took it on. The more I worked on it, the more something felt wrong. The client's product really did have problems, and we were helping them cover it up. After that project, I requested a transfer to a different team.
Some money shouldn't be earned. I understood this a bit late.
Some money shouldn't be earned. I understood this a bit late.
Some Words for Newcomers
I don't really like giving advice to others—everyone's situation is different. But there are a few things I think I can say.
The foundation of media relations is still content. Whether your client has something truly worth covering—that's what matters most. Without that, no amount of media connections will help. I've seen too many PR companies constantly bragging about their media resources, but every proposal they present is just "pay to publish." That's not media relations, that's media buying.
Don't be too transactional when maintaining journalist relationships. Don't only reach out when you need something published—keep in touch regularly. I have a few journalist friends I've known for over fifteen years. They don't write about my clients' industries anymore, but we still get together for meals and chats occasionally.
Don't do things that go against your conscience. This sounds empty, but I'm serious. This industry has too many gray areas. If you try to make money from everything, sooner or later something will go wrong. Among the people I know, the ones who got into trouble were all the ones who were too bold.
Don't take yourself too seriously. Media relations work is basically being a middleman, helping bridge the gap between clients and media. You're not the main character—the clients and media are. Get this positioning right, and a lot of things become clearer.
At its core, media relations is about building bridges
I'm 53 this year, and in a few more years I'll probably retire. This piece is a bit rambling—I wrote whatever came to mind. Some things might have been said too bluntly. If I've offended anyone, I apologize.
This is what I've seen of this industry over twenty years.