Discussion Paper Topic: What is the impact of media and social media on the practice of public relations? Prepared by: Megan McPherson Due Date: 19 August 2013 Words: 3208 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3 2 Defining public relations ................................................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Understanding drivers ........................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 The media as the customer ................................................................................................................... 4 3 Changing requirements for traditional media ............................................................................................... 6 3.1 Impact on public relations ..................................................................................................................... 6 4 New requirements from social media ........................................................................................................... 7 4.1 Blogs ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 4.2 Twitter ................................................................................................................................................... 8 4.3 Facebook ............................................................................................................................................... 8 4.4 You Tube ............................................................................................................................................... 9 5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 10 5.1 Traditional media ................................................................................................................................ 10 5.2 Social media ........................................................................................................................................ 10 5.3 Final words .......................................................................................................................................... 10 6 References ................................................................................................................................................... 11 Page 2 of 11 1 Introduction Both the media and social media impact upon the practice of public relations. If practitioners are to achieve their organisations’ goals and objectives they need to engage with the media as effectively as possible. Because of the symbiotic relationship between public relations and the media, the professions share many of the same opportunities and challenges in the current media environment. Public relations practitioners who can overcome these challenges and embrace thee opportunities will be far more successful when working with the media, and in turn reaching and influencing their targeted publics. This topic has been chosen for two reasons. Firstly, the media has traditionally had a great impact upon the practice of public relations. Since Ivy Lee produced the first press release1 for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1906 the professionals that have liaised and developed the most effective media relations strategies and tactics have been correlatively successful in influencing their news coverage and influenced their publics. For over a century effective media relations has equated to successful media coverage. Secondly, the media have seldom faced a greater period of change. News delivery mediums have multiplied and the media industry is grappling with how to effectively use new technology to engage with their readers, viewers and listeners. Alongside this, social media is allowing organisations to engage directly with their publics. This paper will explore and outline the impact of the media on public relations that existed for several decades. It will then look at the changing media and social media landscape and how this is, and may in future, impact upon the practice of public relations. 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Lee Page 3 of 11 2 Defining public relations To understand the impact of the media on public relations it is necessary to first understand what the public relations role is and how this involves the media. Public Relations is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and understanding between an organisation and its publics (adopted by the IPR UK in 1987). Mersham, Theunissen & Peart (2009) synthesise several definitions and state the characteristics of public relations as dynamic, analytical, planned and managed, action orientated, demanding adjustment and requiring evaluation. Of course there are facets to public relations, including publications management, internal communications and activities that may not involve media relations. However, working with the media is fundamental to establishing and maintaining goodwill and understanding with an organisation’s publics. The key concepts of planned and sustained efforts in the above definition are crucial for effective media relations. Cornelissen (2011) outlined that media relations involves managing communications and relationships with the media; all the writers, editors and producers who contribute to what appears in print, broadcast and online newsroom media. 2.1 Understanding drivers Media relations is largely about relationship management with journalists from all areas of the media. Central to this relationship is trust and understanding of the values both professions usually value. Howard & Matthews (2006) state that as journalists build a working history with a practitioner, they often develop a sense of trust. They recognise that the practitioner is not going to feed them one-sided stories – at least in part because of the harm that can cause toward the practitioner’s professional reputation. Therefore, if a public relationship practitioner is to be effective they need to build a history of trust and understanding with the media. To public relations the impact of this is the skills required of practitioners and the practice of conventions and values held dear by the media. To practice media relations effectively a practitioner must learn to think like a journalist. This means developing a news sense, and adopting the conventions of news narrative (Philip Young, in Theaker, 2012). Information provided by practitioners to journalists should be accurate, balanced, pertinent and timely. It is fundamental that practitioners knows what news is; it is disturbing that some public relations people do not understand the news requirements of journalists and editors. For example, a print media journalist voiced his frustration at “marketing” parading as news: “It has always really irked me when PR people send me advertising dressed up as news. It’s a waste of my time. I’m short-staff and I’ve got a paper to put out. They need to talk to the advertising department, not me! I’ve always kept a wee black list of these people I don’t want my reporters dealing with them.” (anon, May 2013) 2.2 The media as the customer A public relations practitioner should know the news agenda of the day before engaging with the media. Ignorance of this dynamic agenda can only lead to failure; working with the agenda is likely to be effective. For example, it would be close to pointless to release a story on a major medical discovery on the same day Michael Jackson dies. It would, however, be good practice to issue an advisory inviting journalists to interview available music commentators about the influence Jackson had on pop music and popular culture. A practitioner also needs to know and deliver the requirement of each individual journalist as the needs of visual, audio and print media are different. They require access to spokespeople and background information but their needs differ for story production. As an example, if a university is inviting journalists to cover a dental research story, then practitioners should provide: Page 4 of 11 a visual set-up (including cut-aways for TV), audio back ground (such as the sound of a dental drill), for radio, photo opportunities for print media. One clear impact of media on public relations is timing. Media deadlines are also public relations deadlines, and practitioners need to work the same hours as reporters. They also need to appreciate the challenges journalists face because of the need to produce news during irregular hours. For example, an effective public relations practitioner will go out of their way on a Sunday afternoon to provide background and find a spokesperson for reporter or producer who is covering an issue for Monday morning’s news. Public relations practitioners should be a resource for the media. Daily practice in any public relations department should include the development of story ideas with journalists, offering the right experts for interviews and pertinent background research. Page 5 of 11 3 Changing requirements for traditional media The delivery and consumption of news is dramatically changing. A few years ago news consumers were content to check the news once or twice a day. Now they can receive