I think the key points to remember from this week’s readings were that media relations are a large part of public relations practice. It is one of the few roles that practitioners undertake that have tangible and easily measured results. Understanding the way the media works and developing relationships with its members was outlined as essential to practitioners. Another key point was that there is a developing interdependence between the media and the public relations profession.
The readings made me think more about public relations practice in that it outlined the importance of the media to the profession of public relations and gave a detailed analysis of the ways in which the media operates by giving examples of the structure of a news room, outlined the news values that media gatekeepers use to decide whether or not a story is news worthy, and described the differing types of media such as print, radio and television.
The chapter's outline of the different tools practitioners have at their disposal when dealing with the media such as media kits, fact sheets, backgrounders, feature articles expanded my knowledge of such things to more than just the media release, which I was familiar with from the professional writing course we all did last semester. I also found the section on holding media conferences really interesting ,and going by the amount of attention to detail required and the quote - “remember, at a media conference no one will notice the things that go right, but they will notice and remember the things that go wrong” - it sounds like somewhat of a thankless job!
I commented on Alexandra's blog.
http://cmns1290alexandranorman.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey Nathan,
I thought your blog really summed up Chapter 10 really well.
I also found the part about getting to know the structure of a newsroom really helpful, because if I hadn't read that section and attempted to get a story in the news I would've gone straight to the editor. So it was good to read that this is a common mistake made by new PR practitioners and that one should instead go to the news editor or chief of staff.
I also thought that the job of holding a news conference sounds like a thankless job which wouldn't be so great after all that hard work.
Hi again!
I loved the quote you included: “remember, at a media conference no one will notice the things that go right, but they will notice and remember the things that go wrong”! That is so true, and can pretty much be applied to nearly everything we do! How often do we hear about journalists/PR practitioners doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing, hounding the public etc, compared to the amount of times their work has helped someone/a community? It's the same when you are working for your employer. If you make a mistake, they are straight onto you, but how often do they thank you for a job well done? I think PR/journalism would be even worse because you are constantly under scrutiny and the media would have no hesitation in publicising it! I guess it goes back to making LOTS of good friends in the industry before you do something wrong/embarrassing! :)
Post a Comment