Market turmoil, dwindling budgets, and fierce competition online and at the newsstand are reshaping financial media. For some PR pros, this means adjusting to a tabloid approach to coverage.

Drew Ferguson, VP in Ketchum's Midwest corporate practice, points to last August, when the credit crunch boiled over and the secondary markets for financing mortgage securities ground to a halt.

“In the financial services sector, it's almost as if the tabloid style of journalism has led reporters and ...