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

The answer we’re all looking for in PR

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Lucie Marchant and I’m a third year PR and Journalism student. 

It’s been a good three years, full of ups and downs and plenty of opportunities along the way. Most of all, there has been a hell of a lot of learning.

If you’d asked me three years ago what PR was, I would have shrugged my shoulders and said it had something to do with “companies” and “image” and the “media”. Nowadays, I can elaborate a little more but it’s still a burning question with an unsatisfactory answer.

What is PR? Really, what is it? It’s the one question that has remained unanswered throughout this degree.

Each term has got me a little step closer. We were given the opportunity to learn about all the activities and techniques involved in PR, we followed templates and wrote proposals for real and theoretical clients, we learned about PR in an international context, and we gained an understanding of how consultancies operated and how practitioners worked in the corporate setting.

Thinking about it now, it’s true that we learned a whole lot in those three years. But after each term passed - and I don’t think I’m unique in that respect - I feel like I still couldn’t put my finger on what PR really is. What the job actually entails on a day-to-day basis and what it would feel like to be in a PR role. What is this mysterious degree leading to?

The answer to the burning question is what I’m hoping to gain from the PR internship. Surely this one final unit of working experience will explain everything. We’ll find out very soon…

Its a Wrap!

My final project at my internship at Ezeatm involved planning a booth for the upcoming appearance of the company at a national industry expo. Ezeatm are a partner within the Metcash Advantage group who are suppliers for many small business, primarily IGAs, around Australia. I was given the task of liaising with the company's contact at Metcash to organise the delivery and design of the booth. This involved a high level of organisation and cooperation as many factors could have gone wrong with out this.

The booth featured company brochures, information packs and sign up forms for potential new clients. The production and printing of the brochures and information packs was my main responsibility. I liaised with a Perth printing company to get the information printed in a timely and professional manner. 

Once the planning and organisation of this event has been completed, it was my responsibility to brief the attendees (mostly sales representatives within Ezeatm) on the structure and expectations of them for the event. I did this alongside the company's Managing Director. 

I attended the expo with three of the company's sales representatives. While they were approaching new customers and providing information to them I was coordinating the event behind the scenes. I was ensuring their were enough brochures available, making sure small events within the expo were being carried out on time and that booth was looking presentable at all times. 

This experience required me to be highly organised, liaise with many people who I had never met before and form new professional relationships. This biggest challenge I faced throughout the process was that many people attending the event had already done so for many years. As it is an annual event most people new what to expect and new how to prevent things from going wrong. This was my first event so I was learning a lot as I was going. I found it important to seek advice from people with experience in events like this. 

This event was a fantastic way to end my internship and allowed me to apply skills I had learned along the way.