Cision survey: 53% of journalists reject AI-written pitches

More than half of journalists do not want AI-written pitches. Cision asked 1,899 reporters in 19 markets in January and February 2026, and 53% said they are against pitches written by AI. Only 21% were in favour, with 25% neutral.

Cision asked 1,899 journalists across 19 markets this winter

The survey covers North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, and takes in digital titles, newspapers, magazines and broadcast. Its headline finding is that PR is now the main supply line for stories. Two thirds of journalists, 66%, say press releases, pitches and media kits give them story ideas. The same people say most of what lands is useless. Seventy-two per cent report that fewer than a quarter of pitches are relevant to their work.

Only 21% of journalists now avoid AI tools, down from 33%

Reporters are not rejecting the technology itself. The share using no AI tools at all fell from 33% to 21% in a year, and sits at 11% in Asia-Pacific. They use it for brainstorming angles and questions (48%), research and fact-checking (43%) and transcription (41%). Press Gazette, reporting the same data, quoted a respondent warning that AI “can be one of the biggest sources of misinformation”.

The complaints are marketing language and claims with no source

The objections in the study are specific. Journalists name marketing language, information with no source attached, and pitches that miss the beat. Those are the marks a generated email leaves. A model with no real brief writes fluent copy that says nothing a reporter can check, and checking is the job: half of respondents put accuracy and fighting misinformation at the top of their list of problems. Newsroom budgets are part of the picture too, which is why states are intervening, as when California passed a tax credit for newsrooms.

Use AI on the list, then write the email yourself

The practical split is clear from the data. AI is welcome on the parts journalists already use it for: building a list, summarising a report, pulling a transcript. The email itself should carry a person’s judgement about why this reporter, this week. Put one checkable number in the first two lines and name who said it. Also say plainly if the material you attach was made with AI, since labelling rules are already being worked out in Europe. LinkedIn is worth the effort as well: 62% of journalists use it professionally.