MEDIA RELATIONS

IN CONTEXT

This book is about the working relationship between public relations (PR) and the media — the role of media relations. This is one of the best known segments of the public relations mix; its outcomes are often tangible and visible, whether printed in a newspaper, published on the internet or broadcast on radio or television. But achieving and managing media coverage is just the tip of the media relations iceberg. Media relations is also about establishing professional relationships, knowing the way your professional counterparts (in this case, the news media) operate, understanding the timeframes, deadlines, varied formats and practices of this profession, and using the media as a barometer for society, as well as a launching pad for your own initiatives.

As with any field of practice, it is important to know the environment in which you will be working. The book therefore investigates the shifting terrains of the modern media and introduces some key theoretical concepts that underpin contemporary media practice. It analyses the current state of play in the media environments of newspapers, radio and television, magazines, the web and the blogosphere, as well as sections of the entertainment media like reality TV, panel shows and lifestyle programs. It takes a look at trends and changes within contemporary media, including the impact and adoption of social media, and how public relations professionals working within these industries and platforms can best operate. Throughout, the book aims to remain focused on the people who work within these media environments: journalists, editors, news producers and bloggers — the individuals with whom the media relations professional will engage to get their story published and heard. Finally, it presents a range of tools and techniques that may be employed in this practice — from preparing a media campaign to putting together the components of media kits, releases, conferences, events, social media and more.

While the field of media relations is a practical one, it requires research and reflection to grow and develop. This book works towards this goal, with a balance of analysis, policy, theory and practice to place media relations in context within the profession of public relations, the news (and sometimes entertainment) media and the changing patterns of society.

THE MEDIA AND CHANGE

The media are facing a time of massive change. With the emergence of the internet as one of the primary forms of communication, media commentators across the globe have begun questioning the news media's capacity to adapt: How have the news media reorganised themselves in the contemporary media environment? What other media channels are now the dominant forms of information in local, national and global contexts? Is glocal — a mix of local and global — the way forward? In Australia, Tony Moore (2010, p. vii) argues that the internet will be 'journalism's saviour. What will perish, however, is the 20th century's version of journalism'. The 'model' of journalism that has held since the introduction of the printing press is now outdated. Prophesies from all over the world predict massive change; book titles such as Changing Journalism (Lee-Wright, Phillips and Witschge, 2012) and Will the Last Reporter Please Turn Out the Lights (McChesney and Pickard, 2011) focus on significant shifts in the media, referring to it as being at best in a period of 'transition' (Lee-Wright et al., 2012, back cover) and at worst in a 'meltdown' and 'crisis' (McChesney and Pickard, 2011, back cover). In his book, The Vanishing Newspaper, Meyer predicts that the final copy of the final newspaper will appear on somebody's doorstep in 2043 (Meyer, 2004). However, many see change as a way to strengthen the news media: 'Citizen journalism will not make institutional journalism redundant or irrelevant ... it will make traditional journalism stronger, better, more responsive. Sceptics tend to make you lift your game' (McDonald, in Deitz, 2010, p. xii). However the change is articulated, the media are, as McChesney and Pickard (2011) explain, on a 'new and shifting terrain'.

In the few years since the first edition of this book was published in 2007, social media have changed the ways individuals, corporations, governments and the not-for-profit sector communicate — this includes how the media communicate to their audiences and how we, as media relations professionals, communicate with the media.

At the same time, social media and other digital technologies have also provided the means to circumvent the need for working with the news media, reaching niche audiences and publics via targeted alternative channels of communication such as Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. Communication choices have never been greater, but the issue is where to start, which to choose and how to make the best choices. This book is all about providing choices from the sea of news and entertainment media, and using the variety of communication channels now available to us.

News is still news, whether it's distributed in a 140-word tweet, a radio or newspaper story or TV panel show — or all of these. The important issue is whether the news reaches the audience it is intended to reach. Very often, if the story is interesting enough, one story or medium will lead to another. Take, for example, the 'Gasp gaff' in which Melbourne clothing store Gasp became the focus of a major news story after a confrontation with a bride-to-be shopper in late 2011. An email response by Gasp to a complaint by the shopper went viral and the story began to trend in social media, on Twitter and Facebook, with 'Boycott Gasp' and 'We hate Gasp' social networking sites springing up immediately. At the same time, the story became mainstream news, with articles and interviews on Channel 7's Sunrise, Channel 10's The Project, newspapers The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Herald Sun, radio station NovaFM and made international news in the DailyMail and Telegraph in the United Kingdom. The story trended for days in both mainstream and social media, illustrating how news spreads like wildfire across all mediums and around the globe, and how both news and social media continue to fan each other's flames.

The choices available to the news media, including citizen-generated material, provide both opportunities and challenges to journalists and other media workers — opportunities because the choice of material available to the news gatherer is so huge, and challenges because these very choices now compete with the media for attention and audience share. The media relations professional, too, must work strategically if they are successfully to reach their...