External Media & Media Relations
Dr. Linda M. Perry

• New Media
  • This changes everything
    • Two-way communication more effective
    • More data and information available
    • Internet
      • Social media
    • Media convergence
      
      
• Internet
  • Study: Average PR professional spends 15-19 hours online; goes online 5.8 days/7
    • 1/3 say 7 days per week
      
      
      
• Social Media
  • 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study
• 60% of Americans use social media. Of those:
• 59% interact with companies on social media Web sites.
• 25% more than once per week.
• 93% believe companies should have a social-media presence
• 85% believe companies should also interact with their consumers via social media.
• 56% feel a stronger connection with and better served by companies that can interact with them via social media.
• 33% of young users (18-34) and wealthy users believe companies should market to them via social networks

http://www.coneinc.com/content1182




• Media Convergence
  • Text & illustrations, audio, video, hyperlinks
    
    
    
    Back to top
    
    
    

• Media for External Publics
  • Traditional media with improved speed
  • Multiplying channels
    • Permit sharper focus
    • Narrower audience
      • Increased competition for audiences
  • Practitioner must understand
    • role of information,
    • media and their mechanics,
    • values of those who control access to media.
      
      
• External Media
  • Choice of media determined by
    • objective of message,
    • the target audience,
    • the message,
    • timeliness,
    • budget.
      
      
• Public information system
  • System includes:
    • government leaders and information officers;
    • political parties and workers and staff;
    • political pressure groups, staff
    • press: reporters, editors (gatekeepers).
  • Agenda-setting
    • Press tells us what to think about.
      
      
      
• Effective PR:
  • For effective communication in media:
  • Specific messages
  • To reach specific publics
  • To achieve specific objectives.
  
  Back to top
  
  
• Controlled messages
  • Institutional advertisements
  • Image ads
  • Issue ads
  • Advocacy ads
• Organisationl Web sites
• Brochures
  
  
  
• Uncontrolled messages
  • Publicity—News that appears in the time or space reserved for copy or programming.
    • Objective: to make something or someone known.
    • The content and absorption affects public opinion—not the amount.
      
      
• Know which media to use:
  • Newspapers—medium of sustained interest
    • Set agenda for other media
  • Wires
  • Magazines—specialized
  • Radio—specialized; PSA’s
  • Television—specialized with cable
    • PSA’s
    • Video news releases (Code of Good Practice, p. 265).
      
      
      
• Wire Services
  • AP (1848, N.Y.): global cooperative owned by
    • 1,600 subscribing newspapers and
    • 5,900 broadcast stations
  • UPI (1907, D.C.) global
  • Reuters (UK)
  • Agence France-Presse
  • New China News Agency (People’s Republic of China)
  • News services of elite newspapers
  • News syndicates
  • PR Newswire (N.Y., 1954)
    • Many followed, including worldwide news-release distribution systems
    • Pay to put news release on wire
    • Fast, simultaneous transmission to all media on a network
      • Media receive at no charge
        
        
        Back to top
        
        
• News
  • Adversarial; Gatekeepers
  • News values
    • Impact;
  • Timeliness;
  • Proximity;
  • Conflict;
  • Novelty;
  • Prominence
  • Currency.
  
  
• Newsworthiness
  • Relevance
  • Usefulness
  • Interest
    
    
    
• News Releases
  • Who, what, when, where, why & how.
  • Inverted pyramid or first 5 paragraphs.
  • Compelling lead.
  • Tailored for media
    • Broadcast: more conversational
    • Throwaway first line.
  • Typed, double-spaced, wide margins.
  • I.D.: Source name, address, phone number
  • Contact name & number for more info.
  • Release date.
  • Style:
    • AP or Reuters style for broad applicability;
    • direct sentences.
  • Content:
    • Accurate, truthful, complete;
    • facts support lead.
      
      
      
• Media Relations Guidelines
  • 1. Shoot squarely
  • 2. Give service
    • newsworthy, timely stories and pictures
  • 3. Do not beg and carp.
  • 4. Do not ask for kills.
  • 5. Do not flood the media.
    
    
    
• Working with the Press
  • Work for public interest.
  • Make press releases easy to read and use.
  • If you don’t want to see it in press, don’t say it; avoid “off the record.”
  • Inverted pyramid: releases, conferences and responses.
  • Don’t argue.
  • Do not repeat inflammatory, offensive or defamatory language even to deny it.
  • Give direct answers; assume the camera/recorder is on.
  • Admit when you don’t know, but assure you’ll get the answer.
  • Tell the truth even when it hurts.
  • Use press conferences rarely.

   

Back to top