by Hardeep Johal
Media monitoring is the process of tracking what’s published about your organisation across news, TV, radio, blogs, forums and online press, so you know what’s being said, where and by whom.
For public sector comms teams, it’s one of the most practical ways to protect your reputation, respond to stories early and prove the value of your work. This guide explains how media monitoring works, what it covers and how to get started.
At its simplest, media monitoring answers one question: what is the media saying about us?
That might mean a local paper reporting on a planning decision, a regional TV package about a hospital’s A&E, a radio phone-in about bin collections or a blog post questioning a police operation. Media monitoring collects that coverage in one place, so your team doesn’t have to search outlet by outlet.
Modern media monitoring goes further than collecting articles. It helps you understand:
Most media monitoring today runs on software. Here’s what happens behind the scenes:
Coverage of public sector organisations doesn’t stay in one place. A strong media monitoring tool should track:
What media monitoring usually doesn’t cover is conversation on social media. That’s where social media listening comes in. Media monitoring tells you what’s been published. Social listening tells you how people are talking about it. You can read more in our guide to the difference between media monitoring and social listening.
How you’re reported shapes how much people trust you. And trust is harder to earn than ever. The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 found trust in news in the UK fell to 30%, and that online video has overtaken TV and news websites as the main source of news for UK audiences. Stories now travel further and faster, and through more channels, than a press office can track by hand.
For public sector teams, media monitoring helps in four ways.
Protect your reputation
See how your organisation is being portrayed and correct inaccuracies quickly, before they settle into the public record.
Spot issues before they escalate
The earlier you see a developing story, the more control you have. Real-time monitoring and alerts give you time to prepare a response, brief leaders and coordinate with partners.
Prove the value of your work
Senior leaders and elected members want evidence that communications makes a difference. Media monitoring turns coverage into data you can report on. Our guide on how to measure PR in the public sector explains how to build that evidence.
Understand your community
Coverage reflects what matters to residents, patients and service users. Tracking themes over time helps you plan campaigns around real concerns, not assumptions.
When central government cancelled local elections in early 2026, Basildon Borough Council saw resident frustration flood its channels. The team used Orlo’s monitoring, listening, sentiment analysis and Trust Indicator to understand what residents were actually worried about, counter misinformation and brief leadership with data rather than anecdote.
If you’re deciding between a managed service and a self-serve platform, read media monitoring services vs software.
Media monitoring tracks published coverage across news, broadcast, blogs and online press. Social listening tracks conversations on social media and community platforms. Most public sector teams need both, ideally in one platform.
Google Alerts is a free way to get basic notifications, but it misses a lot of coverage, has no sentiment analysis or reporting and can’t monitor broadcast. See our guide to Google Alerts alternatives for public sector teams.
Press and communications teams in councils, police forces, fire and rescue services, NHS organisations, housing associations, central government and charities. In the US, city and county communications teams and public information officers use it to track local coverage.
It depends on how many sources, users and searches you need. Some providers charge per search or report, which can add up. Orlo combines media monitoring with social listening and social media management, so you’re not paying for separate tools. See Orlo pricing.
If Orlo looks like a good fit, we can arrange another deeper session to dig even deeper into your organisation’s specific goals and workflows. This might include exploring integrations, discussing implementation planning, or helping you build a business case internally.
There’s no obligation to proceed – the aim is simply to give you the information you need to decide whether Orlo is right for you.
Most organisations start with a tailored demo and follow-up sessions so they can explore how Orlo would work for their specific use cases.
Because this platform demo is configured around your channels, workflows and teams, these sessions tend to be more valuable than a generic trial environment.
We know public sector teams often need to explore options before making a decision. With pricing, procurement, and future planning in play, we understand the hoops you need to jump through. A demo is simply a chance to see whether the platform could help with your organisation’s challenges. If it’s not the right fit, there’s no obligation to move forward.
Hardeep Johal
Hardeep Johal is Orlo’s Chief Technology Officer and has over 20 years of experience in software development and product management, from creating and executing strategic product roadmaps and overseeing product integrations to due diligence and product acquisitions.
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