Hey everyone...
I’m more than half way through my internship at the Department of Education, and I’m still learning heaps! For the last couple weeks I’ve been in the media unit within Corporate Communications and Marketing and it's really insightful. I’m starting to get a real understanding of how important it is to work closely with the media and communicate the right messages - take for example the latest news story of the Esperance school boy who took a gun to school (Thursday 5/08/10)- the media unit's phones were non-stop ringing for days! Every day is different in the media unit and I've had fun speaking with lots of journalists, taking media enquiries and following up requests for media interviews.
Education in our society is so important, and comes up ALL the time in the news and media – everyone can relate to education or at least has an opinion about it; everyone has a child, friend, grandchild etc. that goes to school and is a part of our public education system.
I recently went to Duncraig Senior High School where the Education Minister, Liz Constable announced the second intake of 64 Independent Public Schools. That morning, the Minister’s media advisor sent a Ministerial Media Statement to Perth media outlets, including television, radio and print inviting them to attend.
As we drove to Duncraig SHS, we were discussing the question - “Will the media come as it is the second intake?” The first intake gained lots of media coverage as it was a new WA Government initiative, but the second was just advising the next group of successful schools to become independent. I found it interesting as it really does all come down to what is happening in Perth on that particular day. The day before (Monday 19/07/10) saw a man hold a house siege, and the day before that saw a naked man on a billboard in Perth city (Sunday 18/07/10) which gave way to a couple of very eventful days in Perth.
On this very Tuesday morning, we were fortunate that all the dramas of the week had subsided and there was no better place for journalists to be than Duncraig SHS for the Minister’s announcement. Channel 9, ABC radio, 6PR, 94.5, the West Australian and GWN came and asked Dr Constable questions as she was interviewed about Independent Public Schools and other topical education issues.
3 comments:
You know i cannot imagine Public relations without the media, it will be very difficult to get the messages across and to get enough publicity. the media is a very intergral part of PR boosting its activities for example without the media the events we hold would not to be broadcasted to the community and relevant people.the media comes in handy as they make things easier for publication.
In my work place there was nowhere to run from the media, as hectic as it is to work with them it was stressed everyday to keep close relations with them and to be as patient as we can with them. I came to understand why we are taught how to write media releases in our PR 250 because in our work place you have to do a lot of writting and call the media daily.
The media makes our profession a lot more easy and flexible thats why i said i cannot even begin to imagine PR without the media when i was at my work place i was told i need to use my facebook account to publicise any event we may have. I was working for Mantissa college and i was told i should let people know about the Augus intake through mail,twitter and all social networks which i have joined and communicate with he media to start publicising it.
Going through your blog made me realise it does not matter where we are PR and media cannot be separated, it will be almost imposible for people to be informed on anything concerning the different events we have.
Besides this the media has the influencial authority to either build or break the company's reputation so its always wiser to bring them closer there is a saying which goes like this "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"
Thank you for the blog Rebbecca, keep up the good job
I found your last comment really interesting Bec. About it all comes down to what happens in Perth on the day. All the news crews are so limited in resources that they can only really send one or two crews out at once.
We found the same thing at the Mundaring Truffle Festival. Naturally we invited all the media down there but on the day, a)because of location and b) because of the events of the weekend, I think there was that party that was out of control, and Julia Gillard was visiting Perth, we unfortunately didn't get any tv crews down there.
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