Jobs in public relations (conclusion); PR and the media

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Jobs in public relations (conclusion) PR and the
media

• October 10, 2006

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PR employment settings

• Corporations
• Nonprofit organizations
• Government---------------
• Public relations agencies
• Independent consulting

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Review of corporate PR functions

• Consumer relations (marketing PR)
• Employee relations
• Media relations
• Government relations
• Community relations
• Business-to-business relations
• Investor relations
• Which of these would you expect to be part of
  non-profit organizations PR functions?

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PR in non-profit organizations
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Examples of non-profit organizations that
generate PR communications

• Hospitals
• Universities (and their alumni organizations)
• Charitable organizations
• Churches

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Do non-profits use these?

• Consumer relations (marketing PR) maybe
• Employee relations yes
• Media relations yes
• Community relations yes
• Business-to-business relations not really
• But there are suppliers, sort of
• Investor relations no

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Non-profits PR efforts also include

• Donor relations
• Communicating with donors (producing and
  distributing letters, pamphlets, videos)
• Fundraising
• Which includes writing and producing direct-mail
  solicitations
• Member relations

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PR in government
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Where youll find PR used in government

• Legislative bodies (US and state Senate, House)
• Judicial system (courts)
• White House
• Executive departments (Labor, State, Education,
  Transportation, HHS, etc.)
• State governors offices
• Government agencies (FDA, SEC, FTC, Postal
  System, FEMA, Homeland Security)

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Who are the publics for government PR?

• Voters (the general public)
• News media
• Employees
• Other government officials (e.g., legislatures)

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What is government PR called?

• Not public relations!
• Often, one of these
• Public information
• Public affairs

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Typical public information duties

• Writing press releases
• Writing speeches for politicians (and preparing
  politicians for public appearances)
• Writing brochures, pamphlets, etc. on policy
• Meeting with constituents (voters)
• Speaking (in role of official spokesperson)

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From a PR standpoint, whats true of the 3
categories we just looked at?

• Corporations
• Non-profit organizations
• Government

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• They generate their own PR materials

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But who else produces PR?

• Public relations agencies
• Independent PR consultants

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And who do they produce PR for?

• In other words, who are their clients?
• Corporations
• Non-profit organizations
• Government
• The work they do
• May either be in addition to what the clients do
  themselves
• Or may be the only PR done

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PR agencies

• Range from 2 people to over 1000
• Larger agencies divide employees into account
  teams
• Each team works on one or more accounts
  (clients)
• Team may consist of account executives, writers,
  designers, producers
• Or, one person on a team might do everything

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Independent PR consultants

• Some PR work is done by individuals
• Hired on a project-by-project basis
• Some consultants specialize in one PR function
• Crisis management, Event planning, Speechwriting
• Many are capable of doing whatevers needed
• Consultant might sub-contract work to others

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What skills do you need?

• Writing
• Writing
• Writing
• Writing
• Writing
• Writing
• Writing
• Writing

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What other skills do you need?

• Oral communication
• Public speaking, phone calls, one-on-one
  meetings, group meetings
• Organization
• Planning, details, logistics
• Research
• Know how to look for and information, ask the
  right questions
• Multi-tasking

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What qualities do you need?

• Enthusiasm and energy (the hours are LONG)
• Intellectual curiosity
• About the world, news, current events, history
• About your clients business (category)
• About business more generally
• About media, journalism
• About popular culture and entertainment

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Lets look at media relations in more depth

• All PR-involved organizations use it
• Corporations, not-for-profits, consultants,
  agencies, governments
• Central to all PR functioning
• More important now than ever
• Why?

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The power of media (from a PR perspective)

• Relatively cheapand effectivemethod of
  communicating
• with large, diverse, geographically dispersed
  publics
• When media publish information in news or feature
  stories (as opposed to ads)
• Conveys sense of legitimacy (its news!)
• Implies a third-party endorsement

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Problems of media (from PR perspective)

• Media are uncontrolled
• PR pros can send news and information
• But have no control on how its used
• Or even if its used

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What would be examples of controlled
information sources?

• Company publications
• Newsletters
• E-mail
• Closed-circuit TV
• Paid advertising
• Company web site

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Importance of each medium to PR pros

• Internet
• pushes information (from organization to
  publics)
• But also lets consumersand journalists!pull
  desired information from web site
• So PR pros must always keep their organizations
  web sites up to date and on message

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Newspaper

• Despite recent declines in circulation
• Still powerful in shaping public agenda
• Still seen as most credible of media
• Especially for political news, world events
• Still engender loyalty from readers

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Magazines

• Consumer mags may not be as valuable to PR pros
  as are trade and professional journals
• Which are read by business leaders
• Which are focused on an industry or organization
  category

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Radio

• Value a personal medium
• Enters peoples lives
• Feels one-to-one
• Radio stations open to promotional events
• Listeners develop strong parasocial relationships
  with favorite hosts

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TV

• Most powerful mass medium
• Primary entertainment source
• Primary news/information source
• So best for reaching large (not targeted)
  audiences
• Still the primary medium for product publicity
• Which programming, specifically?

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Relationships between journalists and PR
professionals

• To explore this, we need to consider how each
  side sees itself
• And its roles and responsibilities

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How journalists see their jobs

• Important
• See themselves as serving democratic society
• They are the publics watchdogtheir eyes and
  ears
• They are the publics interpreters
• They not only report on whats going on
• They explain it, make sense of it, place it in
  context

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Journalists priorities

• News coverage must be fair, accurate, balanced
• Not concerned with whether an organization (or
  candidate or cause) is seen in positive or
  negative light
• More important is that its a balanced light

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Of course, it doesnt always work that way

• Why not?
• Media can be (and are) biased
• More important, choices are made agenda-setting
• Only certain issues are covered
• Only certain issues are emphasized
• In other words, journalists are gate-keepers,
  allowing some stuff in, keeping other stuff out

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How PR pros see journalists

• To a PR professional, a journalist is
• An audience (explain?)
• A medium (explain?)
• A gatekeeper
• Thus, from PR perspective, a journalist can be a
  help or a hindrance

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So what does this mean?

• If youre a PR practitioner, you NEED journalists
  to work with you so you accomplish your goals
• And you recognize that journalists need you
• You can be a source of information that they
  might not be able to otherwise get

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Mutual dependency

• Journalists like to think theyre independent
• And they would probably like to be independent
• Todays reality
• They cant afford to be
• They need the information that PR pros provide
  them
• Even though theyre skeptical about it and its
  intentions

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What makes a PR pro effective?

• Positive relationships with media
• Writing PR materials in a way that journalists
  can use them and want to
• Recognize whats truly newsworthy
• Be accurate and honest in your press releases
• Provide timely information, news, photos,
  background information
• Write like a news writer

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Perhaps most important

• Recognize that journalists want to cover what
  truly is news and newsworthy
• Dont provide information that serves ONLY your
  organization
• Show how the information is of public interest
• Problem not all PR does this
• Video Truth Merchants