Maintaining positive and professional relationships with Journalists.

Maintaining positive and professional relationships with Journalists.

The value of connections in the news industry.

 

During my placement at Tourism Western Australia working in the Corporate Communications department I have observed that having a positive and professional relationship with journalists is vital to achieving successful results for your organisation.

 

Both the Direct and Manager of the Corporate Communications department were journalists prior to working in house for various organisations. Due to their prior experiences working in the news industry they have good foundations with a various media connections and an understanding of the journalists role. I am impressed by how many journalists they know well and I definitely want to ensure that I build diverse connections in the industry when I begin my profession.

Today I thought I would examine why obtaining and maintaining a positive, professional relationship with journalists is important to your organisation. This topic brings me back to the media relations unit that I undertook in second year.

Journalist disseminate news, informing the general public. Traditionally the relationship between the two professions has been uneasy. Due to pressures in media such as the audience's desire for instant news and staff cuts, journalists have been beginning to increasingly rely on public relations. In terms of public relations they are a key tool to getting your organisation's key messages to your campaigns desired audience. Public relations are information providers and journalists are information seekers, there roles are constantly interweaving. Often the outcomes of working with the media are tangible and visible, from newspaper articles to online, radio and television.

 

It’s important to remember that if public relations staff want to work with the media they must have a good understanding of how they operate including timeframes and deadlines, what is news-worth or valuable to the public, and ethical and legal considerations. Its also important to understand that, like Public Relations, journalism is an evolving industry thanks to web 2.0 and the way in which journalists operate is changing.

It’s important for public relations practitioners to realise the news opportunities they have. Organisations can gain valuable media exposure through monitoring and jumping on trends and ensuring that there is planning and preparation to create spontaneous news “crisis communication” e.g. natural disaster occurs, terrorist attack, a election is called or company scandal. Journalist have busy schedules so it is important to ensure that the information you provide doesn’t waste their time. Being accurate, brief and clear will increase the chances of your media release getting picked up.

 

- Caitlyn :) 

 

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All photographs in this blog post are property of Tourism Western Australia.

 

Johnston, J. (2007). Media relations: Issues and strategies. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

Caitlyn Rintoul
Curtin University - Bentley Campus (Perth, Western Australia)
16172526

Seeking Clarity: A Dejavu Experience with Journalists

This week would be the most challenging to date. 

Even my desk depicted how bust I was with beautiful orange Clarity folders everywhere. Notice I cleaned it for the photograph. 

Despite having worked as a journalist for the Kalgoorlie Miner Regional Newspaper in the past, I found this task the most nerve racking.

With the online strategy for the ICF campaign now sorted, it was time to begin contacting media outlets to generate traffic towards the online medium to achieve awareness and engagement.

I spook with different members of the ICF leadership team and together we devised news worthy stories that would appeal to a wide target market. 

What deems a topic news worthy?

At university, if we tick off on of the topics from the ‘newsworthy’ list I'm sure we are all aware of, it almost feels as though it guarantees our topic coverage in the media.

WRONG.

Despite having stories that related to health and well being, corporate and executive, media outlets were not as interested as what I first thought they’d be. 

I wrote and pitched 4 media backgrounders to various media outlets around the Perth, including the Sunday Times, the West Australian, Scoop Magazine, ABC Radio and Business News.

The topics varied from coaching in health - more closely breast cancer, coaching and ADHD, coaching for business executives, and coaching and yoga.

Speaking with journalist on the phone was quiet the straight forward process and once my first call had been made, I was not so nervous.

Unfortunately the stories did not stick with the media, but the process from fabrication to pitch was a fantastic experience. 

Particularly, I learnt to be prompt, straight to the point, and as Ellie from the strategy team suggested, ask the journalist first if they have time to speak.

Speaking with Kellie she said that they might not work as they are not the type of stories they are interested in right as it did not appeal to current affairs. 

This meant that these press releases could be utilised next March for coaches week. 

This experience revealed my true passion for the PR industry verse going back to journalism.

I believe this is because of the challenge that the PR industry requires

PR and Journalism: A Rocky Relationship

One of the very first things we learn in our Public Relations degree is the importance of media relations and media coverage. How to correctly write media releases is practically drilled into our brains, and a whole unit is devoted to managing and creating relationships with media and journalists. It is one of the most important tasks that any PR professional must master. So I was truly excited when I was given the opportunity to dive into media release writing recently at my internship.

I am completing my internship at a theatre, and was asked by my supervisor to produce a media release announcing the AUSLAN interpreted performances of two of the plays featured in the upcoming season. I was ready to apply the skills I picked up in PR Techniques and create the best media release I have ever produced. 

Once I was happy with it, my supervisor looked over it and gave her approval. We sent out the media release and then all we could do was simply wait.

I was anxious, yet excited when it came to performing my media monitoring duties the next week. My supervisor told me the article had some interest and I began checking some local papers. And there it was! A half-page news story based on the media release I had written! It was my first time actually experiencing what it was like to gain some media coverage, however when I read the article my excitement slowly went away. 

Firstly, the name of the play was spelt incorrectly. What was supposed to be ‘Armour’ was spelt ‘Amour’ and on top of that, the date of the performance in the article was also incorrect. Although the article was there and we gained some coverage, all of the vital information was incorrect. I was extremely disappointed and there wasn’t anything we could do to correct the mistake at this point. 

In spite of the fact that this was extremely frustrating for both myself and my supervisor, it has taught me some vital lessons. Firstly, that PR professionals don’t have total control over the media coverage produced. Despite a media release with the correct information and a follow-up phone call with the journalist, the mistakes were still published. Therefore, it is vital to have contingencies in place if things don’t always go to plan. 

Secondly, the relationship between journalists and PR professionals is a vital one. PR professionals can do all they can to generate coverage, however it is the journalist that produces the final piece. Therefore, relationships with journalists must be managed and open communication throughout the media release distribution process is crucial. 

Thirdly, you must be able to bounce back. Although this was unfortunate situation and left me feeling down, PR professionals must be able to move on a do their best to let the public know the correct information. We continued to promote the AUSLAN performance through social media and our website before discovering that another article about the performances was published on ArtsHub, a national publication. This was extremely gratifying, as this article was more likely to reach a larger audience.  

Overall, my first time writing a media release in a professional context has been a huge learning experience for me, illustrating that even when you have the best intentions, it doesn’t always go to plan. However, there’s always next time, and something even better may be waiting around the corner!