Sallot, M. and Johnson, A. (2006) To contact... or not? Investigating journalists' assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences.
I think the key points to remember from this week’s readings were that public relations practitioners need to be aware of how to write for the media if they wish to build good media relations and get published.
In the study, journalists complained that:
-Practitioners lacked news sense and values such as accuracy, timeliness and style ie pyramid form.
-Practitioners lacked a local angle when writing subsidies.
-The information offered was overtly and overly self-serving.
-Practitioners lacked ethics, withholding truth and trying to win coverage through sending out freebies.
The article also mentioned that the majority of journalists preferred to be contacted by email, then phone, but that preferences also differed from journalist to journalist.
The readings made me think more about PR theory/practice in that knowledge of journalistic standards and writing styles can be beneficial for both parties. Not only will it encourage practitioners a more likely chance of receiving coverage, but it will enable journalists to use the information and have greater respect for the practitioner.
Practitioners who frame their subsidies with benefits to society- or at least, to targeted gatekeepers’ audiences may be more successful by making journalists feel good about publishing the info.
Therefore, for optimal media relations, practitioners need to look at their framing skills, writing skills and keep in mind that a local angle is essential.
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3 comments:
Hi Brianna, well you're a week ahead but I will revue what you have written anyway...
It doesn't surprise me that journalists seem to have a low opinion of PR press releases and to be truthful I find their arguments convincing. However your suggestions for compromise are equally convincing and give me hope for the profession! A well written blog Brianna *****
Dear Brianna,
Zena would be proud of your work ethic!I agree that it is important to be aware of how to write for the media. To expand on your point i also think it is important to be aware that practitioners need to understand that they cannot use a "one size fits all" approach when releasing information to the media. With technologies of communication spanning well beyond just the written form, it is important to be able to write media releases etc for a number of media forms such as radio, tv and the like.
I read your blogs with great enthusiasm so i shall return soon.
I think your blog for this week was great. You express your points clearly and have great points that you have extracted from this weeks reading.
It is understandable why journalists hold the opinions that they do about public relation practitioners- such as some complaining that they lack ethics and present information that is "overtly and overly self-serving".
You selected points from the reading that didn't strike me as overly important, but that in retrospect are important from publuc relations practitioners to learn from. An example of this is when you stated that the majority of journalists prefer to be contacted by email rather than by the phone.
Well done on this reflection of the weeks readings.
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