Decoding the Nexus between Media Professionals & P R Professionals

Friends, Thank you very much for taking out time from your busy schedule to read my blog(s). Sharing knowledge with you has become my passion now. I feel encouraged after reading your feedback in the comments column. Today I’m happy to present my 93^rd Blog “Decoding the Nexus between Media Professionals & PR Professionals”.

Friends, Public Relations, as a practice in INDIA have come a long way into establishing its needs and indispensable role with country’s corporate world. Compared to the stimulating application of Public Relations in the global market, we still have miles to go.

Where the Corporate India is breaking all the barriers to adopt the most innovative strategies and processes to chart out the most viable and effective communication plans, the role of public relations is still largely a media relations game that can potentially influence the key constituencies either by creating a perception, or informing / educating through NEWS. Media is one indispensable channel / mode towards achieving one or more public relation objectives of a business.

For me, the best definition of public relations comes from author Mr. Michael Levine in his book “Selling Goodness”….. “When the circus comes to the town and you paint a sign about it that’s ADVERTISING. Put the sign on the back of an elephant and march him through Beverly Hills in Los Angeles that’s PROMOTION. If the elephant walks through flower bed of Los Angeles Mayor’s residence, that’s PUBLICITY. And, if you can get the Mayor to laugh or comment about it, that’s PUBLIC RELATIONS.

The job of Public Relations is to facilitate a journalist to get the correct information in the right perspective. Media management is the key attribute of public relations worldwide. It is a single vehicle that has the mass reach. Media is the quintessence of public relations. It is the last mile connectivity. After a whole lot of research and strategy it has to end with media. All the strategy and plans of the organization finally must be translated into stories that appear in the media. Only then would the stakeholders know what the organization is up to.

Media is very important in the whole value chain. Media is part and parcel of the public relations industry as it helps to effectively mould the public opinion and perception. But the real trouble begins when publicity-hungry organizations turn media shy at the first sign of trouble. There could be several reasons and at that time organizations tend to calm up and ask their PR or the Corp. Comm. heads to keep the media at bay or kill the negative stories. This is where they antagonize the media. When the going is good, the journalists are CEO’s best friends but the moment the boat rocks, the journalist(s) becomes persona non grata.

Friends, this blog of mine would try to find out answers to the following questions.

a.      What do the relations between the PR industry and the media look like?

b.      Are they traditional media-source or pressure group relations from the PR side?

c.       What is the outcome of these relations?  

d.      How do they affect the selection of news stories to be covered?

Public relations have become an influential power in India’s democratic system of governance since the beginning of 21^st century, to be more specific year 2010 onwards. Big or small PR agencies and experienced PR professional mainly use media to inform, educate, influence, persuade and build opinionated publics for and on behalf of their clients i.e. organisations and the governments. The main objectives of PR practitioners and or PR agencies are to communicate with the desired publics using right and effective channels of communications, building relationships, organizing networking events and use of different PR tools and activities for creating effective news stories intended for desired publics, to be covered in the print or electronic media channels.

The PR professionals or the PR agencies aim for close and continuous relations with their target media in order to secure publicity for their respective clients. News correspondents and editors have a cynical approach towards PR professionals and PROS representing PR agencies etc. and at times they are hesitant to publish such news stories which are in line with journalistic norms and professional journalistic work conduct due to the reasons best known to them.

As per a study report on PR & Media, the news media are the most outstanding, common, and important channel for interest groups to get their messages out and influence their surroundings. Several researchers argue that a focus on media has, in fact, grown in importance to these agents, especially concerning those active on the scene of policy shaping in the broader sense. Manning (2001) means that media work has become a more central part of political activity in recent years; earlier, Franklin discussed ‘packaging politics’ and Blumler found that publicity advisers, public relations experts and campaign consultants “immerse journal­ists in what appears to be an increasingly manipulative opinion environment” (Blumler 1990:104). In addition, Cottle (2003) among others also notices an increased interest on the part of commercial groups in strategically mobilizing communicative power and attaining media space.

Some of the studies of the relations between the PROS and the journalists show that PROS and journalists often establish close relations in order to fulfill a mutual need (Davis 2002, Allern 1997, Wien & Lund 2001). The situation is similar to what research has shown about the relation between the media and institutional representa­tives such as politicians and government leaders (Tunstall 1970; Gans 1979; Ericson 1987; Cook 1989; Larsson 1998).

The influence of the PR industry appears in many different shapes in daily life. It involves anything from traditional press conferences and press releases to various more or less successful long-term agenda-setting-related activities. Among other things, strate­gies for controlling the news agenda are based on producing and serving the media with material that promotes the instrumental purposes of the senders’ interests. This type of media influence and strategies for controlling the news agenda are today often referred to by the concept News Management (Pfetsch 1998).

Friends, in recent times Information Subsidy has increased its relevance to the everyday journalism reality as a consequence of the finan­cial and personnel cutbacks many news organizations have undergone. The term information subsidies refers to the process of providing news stories, reports, facts, or other forms of information or intellectual capital to reporters or gatekeepers, with the intention of affecting the perceptions or actions of readers, viewers, or recipients of the information.

 Some analysts claim that this type of contact and exchange has forced journalism to become increas­ingly dependent on, and more easily affected by, outside influences, a transformation of professional conduct that has resulted in a more alienated journalism (Blumler & Gurevitch 1995; Bennett & Mannheim 2001). According to Davis (2002), the cutbacks are one explanation of the fact that PR practitioners have come to strongly influence today’s news agenda. He argues that the material they present has become extremely successful in passing itself off as ’real news’, and thereby, to a great extent, PR people have “worked to erode the autonomy of journalists at the micro level” (Davis 2002:172).

Friends, you would agree that what passes for news of politics is often an inextricable mixture of messages from different sources. Advertising, public relations, reports of opinion polls, and propaganda become mixed up in the news product along with facts and editorial opinions and that certainly tends to undermine any simple faith in the reliability and independence of news (McQuail, Graber & Norris 1998:253).

The news media are the most prominent instrument for disseminating information in society therefore; the news media have become an increasingly important stage for organizations’ external communication. Today, the news media are the most important marketplace as all important deals are settled in the media sphere. Typically, TV news channels having maximum TRP ratings along with the leading newspapers constitute the most important targets for PR activities. Within news television industry, news programs of famous news anchors, being influencers, are especially sought after, and followed by talk shows and entertainment programs.

For PR activities directed at the print media, the editorial and debate pages of the daily morning newspapers are essential targets. When it comes to activities such as product promotions and launches, trade magazines and other types of specialized press increase in ranking and become a high priority. For opinion-generating campaigns, regional and local media are also of interest. However, the latter types of media organizations pick up PR-related information mostly through news agencies, and thus their news correspondents experience less direct connection with PROS.

The impact potential of the news media is of course a crucial factor in why news journalists are the main target of actions taken by the PROS. However, there are at least two additional reasons for why publicity using the news media is considered the best method to reach the target public and thereby to achieve a desired image and swing public opinion in client’s favor. First, publication in the media has a higher level of credibility than other communication channels do and second, compared to advertising, media publicity using PR tactics is a very cost-effective method. By serving the news media with apt material, the activities of PROS have caused the PR industry to move towards taking on the shape of a news desk located outside the media, and in fact PR agencies have become satellite news desks and PROS have become satellite news correspondents.

Friends, PROS and news correspondents and editors view each other as a source they can depend in hour of need. Yours truly, being an expert on Financial, Political and Celebrity PR, holds a huge respect for each and every journalists, news correspondents and news editors working in print and electronic media and laud the role of Indian news media in overall development of the country and shaping the society at large.

Some news correspondents have a love-hate approach towards PR professionals but as far as I’m concerned, I’m truly lucky to have great relationships in news media till today.  

Establishing relations with the target journalists is crucial to the success of a PR professional. It is deci­sive to create and maintain well-functioning relations with relevant editorial staff also. The “fundamental objective of PROS should be to make sure to build good personal relationships with edito­rial staff”. Maintaining a cordial relationship is a constantly ongoing process, where the aim is to “create a long-term relationship with journalists so they will know exactly where you stand in relation to them and so they can trust that you will give them conclusive information”.

Many news correspondents feel that PROS are extremely annoying. It depends on whether PROS call them and try to shower them with information they don’t need then things can take a wrong turn. If PROS on the other hand, respect them and try to be of help to them in their work, PROS can serve the purpose they’re supposed to as PROS.

It is essential for a PROS to not only make contact, but to establish ‘the right’ connections. This means aiming for media that fits to their clients’ ideas or products in terms of content and audience. In addition, PROS have to identify individual journalists who might be interested in the specific topic they are seeking publicity for. For PROS a close and well-working relation with media professionals and an in-depth understand­ing of journalistic professionalism are prerequisites of and a basic strategy for influencing media experts in their aim to set the agenda.

To conclude; the news media are the main channel for disseminating information and controlling public opinion in favor of a particular group’s interests. Accordingly, obtaining media publicity is an important aim of the PROS. This fact leads to the almost trivial as­sumption that there is a connection between those who aim to influence the media and those who work in the news business. The contacts between PROS and news journalists are extensive, in the sense that they are frequent, and mainly initiated by the former. Thus, news journalists are constantly the designated targets of PR related activities.

Thanks for reading the blog.

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