In order to foster a good relationship between clients and the media, practitioners have to understand both perspectives of news from the two differing point of view. Stanton (2006) describes the creation of this perspective by 'imagining' news. The most obvious reason for imagining news on the side of journalists and news owners is to provide an informational commodity to the public. Hence, it has always been the case to center news pieces with 'news-worthiness' to fulfill its role producing news for the benefit of the public.
Since news is imagined in such a way, journalists also frame news towards this model. McNair (2000) explains that the aspects of a journalists' work consists of interpretative, interrogative and adversarial. The simple connection to all of this factor is investigative. In other words, it is natural for journalist to be suspicious and on guard against all types of news - news with particular motive, false news or even genuine pieces of information. All media releases are treated with suspicion, until it is thoroughly understood and investigated, then it will be put through in a news room.
In these actions, journalists merely serve their stakeholders - the media owners and news sources, its secondary stakeholders; the audience absorbs this commodity produced by the media.
Hence, building a good media relationship is to provide clear, accurate information with a sharp angle to the story or media release to keep the journalist keen on providing objectivity in a story as well as a certain level of interest. A media relationship have similarities to building a personal relationship - based on trust and commitment. The next step is to choose a media to develop the relationship, a media to affiliate to to value add to the bond between media and the client.
Stanton (2006) also offers a good way to foster a good relationship by providing an equality in the relationship. Some industries like finance and government are favoured and prioritised over grassroots institutions and not-for-profit organisations. However, equality for these organisations can be achieved through non-threatening manner or less motivated intentions.
To link Stanton's theories of developing a media relationship to the real world, I took the liberty of providing an example as a case study. In this week Saturday (11th September)'s issue of The Straits Times Home Section in page B8, an article with a headline, "Body Shop campaigns against sex trafficking".
The organisation in this case, Body Shop took up a similar stance described, a non-threatening manner without motivated intentions to provide a genuine awareness raising campaign in Singapore for sex trafficking. The simple reason why this piece of news was selected is that it has news-worthiness; relevancy to the public, a campaign to raise awareness which is of public interest. The angle taken was neutral without business or political agenda which could put off the journalist as a Public Relations gimmick.
Body Shop or its public relations face, understood this relationship and concept that allows them to publicise their brand with a not-for-profit effort to maintain an image of Mezzanine (a space between corporations and organisations and NGOs).
In conclusion, a powerful media release and relationship must understand the mechanics of how the journalistic world works - angle, news-worthiness, neutrality in agenda and public interest, to create a strong bond and to maintain a relationship of providing a good source of news to the media as well as to create positive feedback from the media and its audiences.
It is a good viewpoint on the level of involvement from PR agencies within the various media outlets.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that it works both ways, sort of like a you-scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours method - PR agencies needing the media to promote their account while the media need a good story
However, such a method might not be as object e, seeing how both parties are co-dependent of each other.
I believe that in order for both to be objective, they need to have boundaries exempted so as to allow I'll autonomy of working and promoting
It is evident that good media relations is critical to a PR agency and I believe that good media coverage can be worth more than anything in advertising.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the point of building a good media relationship is to provide clear, accurate information with a sharp angle to the story.
Aside from clear & accurate information, the pitch has to be of relevance and importance, for it to be newsworthy. And of course, the media runs on news hence, it is important to stay newsworthy to be of benefit!
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ReplyDeleteFostering good relationship between PR consultants and the media can also be looked upon as a double-edged sword. Firstly, the media receives news stories to publish, while secondly, the PR agency benefits as there is increased awareness on their clients' profile.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, standing from media practitioners' point of view is fundamental in understanding what makes them to publish your media release. As stated above by Daniel, a journalist's main objective is not to provide free publicity for any organisation, but to deliver information that is newsworthy. Hence writing a good media release is important to avoid it being chucked aside. It should comprise information that are objective, neutral, and of relevance to the media's target audiences.
Another example I would like to provide is a front-page article on Straits Times, 11 Sept 2010, titled 'NUH therapy for women who miscarry'. While majority of the report focuses on interviews with patients, doctors and background information on the treatment, special mention was given in a sub-section on how NUH succesfully came up with the research. In addition, interviews from the doctors and patients yielded good reviews on NUH. From a PR practitioner's perspective, this article is newsworthy and will also raise NUH's profile among the general public.
-Andy Wang
Just realised that I'm listed as [CTU]Sphererer above when I'm actually Terence Ong. Just a verification post
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points made. It is very important for a PR practitioner to stand in the shoes of a journalist and identify what exactly is newsworthy for the journalist and what information is needed to get his job done. It would then be easier for PR practitioners to communicate this information across.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would also like to note that most PR campaigns are derived from specific objectives and goals that were set early in the initial stages and some events/activities that PR practitioners carried out may not have the same news values that journalists are looking for.
To be realistic, we have to admit that publicity is of extreme importance for PR practitioners, and hence building a good relationship with the media should be fundamental. Although I cannot pin-point exactly how in a step-by-step fashion, I recognise that it goes beyond simply identifying news value and supplying newsworthy information.