Public Relations Week 8

Media Management

Controlled Media is material that is produced by an organization and has full editorial control over content and had full editorial control over content

Some examples:

• Annual reports
• Brochures
• Posters
• Newsletters
• Paid for advertising
• Public announcements

Uncontrolled Media is material that is produced by an organization but has NO editorial control over the content used

Some examples:

• A news/media release
• Micro-blogging/re-tweets on twitter

Media and PR

Journalists and PR practitioners have a love/hate relationship as they must work together but have different roles. Below is a summary of my understanding of the different roles that PR practitioners and journalists have in the media.

Journalists perceive themselves as:

• Truth-seekers
• Reporting on and responding to issues
• Reporting on society
• This makes journalists more accountable for what they write

Journalists perceive PR practitioners as:

• Biased
• Protecting the organization they work for reputation
• Promoters of interests

PR practitioners perceive themselves as:

• Gatekeepers who guard or withhold information
• Obstruct news gathering process for journalists

Media needs PR

Having 24/7 news reporting puts a lot of pressure on journalists who produce investigative news, especially as news is in such high demand and is needed quickly. This puts PR practitioners in a good position to work with the media and with journalists. 19% or even a higher percentage of newspaper articles and 62% of news stories are now from PR agencies, showing how the media does rely on PR for news. 84% of journalists visit media release pages more then any other page also displaying how jounalists do use PR practitioner’s information. PR practitioners also facilitate interviews for journalists which helps them to be more accurate and find out more for their stories.

PR needs Media

PR needs media to help communicate with publics. Media outlets provide a credible, third party endorsement for PR practitioners. It is also free publicity and allows PR practitioners to shape the news agenda, which helps to shape public opinion.

Media and PR Relationship

In order to create a media and PR relationship there are a few things that PR practitioners must consider.

• Understanding timelines and the accuracy of information in a non-obstructive manner
• Support journalists and their work and respect their windows of free time and when they would be most busy
• Requesting and having discussions with journalists before deadlines to create relationship and mutual understandings
• Update websites and social media with accurate and timely information and fixed with what is discussed. (67% of journalists source news now from Facebook and 63% from Twitter
• Provide well-briefed and available speakers

Effective Media Relations

For effective media relations, PR practitioners should firstly find out who writes about the issues in their sector. PR practitioners must also understand news values and what the journalists’ agendas are and their way of writing such as their tone. It is also important for PR practitioners to understand the demographic of the area and tailor their communications accordingly. It is also important for PR practitioners to have up-to-date media lists and realize the way in which the media uses different strategies. PR practitioners must match the content of the news with the media outlets and always meet deadlines. In doing all of these things, PR professionals will find relating to the media easier and more effective.

Media Releases

Media releases must have punchy and eye catching headlines with the most important news first. PR practitioners must make all media releases relevant and localized. It should also include attributed quotes from local and then national spokespeople. PR people but always emphasize their contact details to the media so that they are contactable.

Social Media Releases

Social media releases are the same structure as a normal media release BUT…

PR practitioners must make sure that their social media release is as shareable as possible for the maximum publicity, and must have as much content as possible. It’s also required to include the following

• Hyperlinks
• Photo gallery
• Social commenting function
• Social media share buttons

Conclusion

From this week’s lecture and readings, I learnt a substantial amount about how PR practitioners work together with the media and what differentiates journalism from PR. I learnt how PR practitioners should deal wit the media and how the media and PR rely on each other to make news.