LESSON - 7: MEDIA RELATIONS
B A (JMC) (3-YDC),
SEMESTER SYSTEM
SEMESTER –IV
SEC III: PUBLIC
RELATIONS AND EVENT MANAGEMENT
Unit -1: PUBLIC
RELATIONS
LESSON - 7: MEDIA
RELATIONS
Objectives:
1.
Identify the need for press relations.
2.
Understand the media requirements.
3.
Describe the methods through which good press relations can be promoted
4.
Explain the attributes that go into the making of a good Press Relations
Manager
5.
Understand the benefits of maintaining good media relations.
Introduction:
Media Relations and Press Relations are one and the
same. In earlier days when there was only Newspapers, organisations maintained
Press relations. With the advent of electronic media such as Radio, Television,
Digital & Social media, Press relations have become Media Relations.
PR Man as the person in the middle has to understand
the requirements of both the management and the media and provide media
oriented information for an effective coverage. Media coverage for an
organisation depends on maintaining good media relations and serving the
newspapers effectively. Therefore, media relations are based on certain
principles and it is nothing more than the serving the media.
Media Relations is one of the important relations that
PR is expected to maintain along with Employee Relations, Stakeholder
Relations, Customer Relations, Community Relations, Financial Relations,
Government Relations etc., This unit explains various factors that go into
building up good media relations for an organisation.
Media
Relations – Description
Media
relations means managing communication between an organization and the media.
It is both an art and a science that falls under the umbrella of public
relations.
Media
relations is the practice of managing the spread of information between an
individual or an organization and the media. The media can be used to build
relationships with customers, employees, investors, and other key audiences.
Media
Relations involves working with media for the purpose of informing the public
of an organization's mission, policies and practices in a positive, consistent
and credible manner. It can also entail developing symbiotic relationships with
media outlets, journalists, bloggers, and influencers to garner publicity for
an organization.
Media
relations is the process of managing and influencing public perception through
the use of media for the purpose of informing recipients about an
organization’s aim, rules, and practices in a favorable, consistent, and
credible manner.
Concept of Press Relations
Let us
look at media scene for building up good press relations. There are thousands
of newspapers and periodicals with a circulation running into crores of copies.
If we take the readership of only dailies, it comes to about 5% of the Indian
population, which is not a small percentage. Radio reaches 99% of the Indian
population with most of the rural population relying for information on radio
programmes. Similarly, terrestrial Doordarshan reaches 92 per cent of India's
population. It is against this background; media relations assume great
importance in the practice of PR.
PR in
reaching its goal has to utilise various media of communication such as the
press, radio, television, social media etc. The radio and television are
controlled by the Govt while press is in the private sector. Without close
rapport and better service, it will be difficult for any PR person to get
coverage for the activities of organisation in the media. It is therefore
necessary for a PR Manager to understand and study the concept of media
relations.
PR
practitioner is a link between the management and the media. Being a person in
the middle, he must understand the needs and requirements of both his own
management and the media. Managements want news to be published in a manner
that will promote their policies and business interests. They do not relish any
criticism whatsoever in the media. There are certain cases both in the private
and the Govt sector to stop advertisements to the newspapers, when critical
writings were published. Some organisations need to use advertisement support
as a lever to control the press. But this is not the correct approach to deal
with the press.
Newspapers
like to publish only such news that interests a large number of readers. The
Editor always tries to keep his master in view while publishing the news and
not the management of PRO.
Thus,
the managements of organisations and media managements have legitimate ground
about serving their respective masters. PR Manager who is a link between the
management and media has to bridge both the view points and bring each side
around to understand the problems and perceptions of the other. This can be
achieved through better media relations.
If the
PR can be defined as managing relations and understanding between an
organisation and its publics in getting company’s products or services
understand and acceptable, the media relations is termed as the art of
persuading the press that the same organisation is worth getting media
coverage. Good media relations are created and maintained only through honest
and reader-oriented news service provided in an atmosphere of mutual trust and
understanding. PR Manager is, therefore, required to acquire knowledge of the
techniques of maintaining good media relations. He has to develop skills such
as writing for the media, organising media events like press conference, press
briefings, press tours etc.
Need for Press Relations
Every
organisation tends to gain coverage in newspapers, but space in newspapers is
limited. For this, effective media relations would undoubtedly enable
organisations to get fair coverage for their activities. Here are a few
extracts from an article by the Editor-in-Chief of a major daily newspaper on
‘Press Notes’, which justify the need for good press relations.
“The
Editors are appalled to see the sloppy copy that comes in the form of press
notes. Though the author of such press notes is a qualified PR man, there is no
professional touch in many of the press notes. Every copy needs a re-write
man”.
“It
doesn’t mean that the Editors look forward in such Press Notes any ready-made
material that can go straight to composing. What is required is a good copy and
up to the point. In a day, an Editor receives hundreds of press notes and if
every press note runs into a number of pages, not only he may not have time to
go through all, but he will be terribly bored, with the result important ones
will go unnoticed.”
“Press
notes are not the only source of news for the Editor. He has pages and pages of
other eligible matter from internal sources like agency copy and reports
received from reporters/correspondents that are likely to get priority. The
share of the press notes in the news column may be in the range of only 5 to
10%. For this, one cannot expect the Editor to spend his whole day going
through the press notes.”
So,
“the PRO’s aim should be to seek the Editor’s attention with the limited time
he has at his disposal.”
“The
authors of Press notes should first of all know the difference between the
publicity and propaganda and they should confine themselves to gain publicity
for a particular event or activity, and not try to brain-wash the editors or
propagate their view point. Editors are not that naïve to be unable to
distinguish between the two. If the press notes are losing credibility among
the Editors, it is because of this tendency of the PROs to load them with
propaganda material.”
“The
PROs should make it a point to prepare the press notes in a crisp news format.
On the contrary, if it is stuffed with propaganda, it is bound to reach its due
place in a newspaper office, that is ‘dustbin’ or ‘trash’.”
Giving
instructions to the Editor should be avoided. For example, there was a press
note with some instructions from a Govt Department to the Editor like:
1.
Message to appear in 2 column x 15 centimetres.
2.
Photo of X may be 2 x 1 ½ centimetres on the
left side of the message.
3.
Message may kindly be published by giving a
prominent position preferably on the front page.
4.
Start composing the message alongside X’s photo
and run across two columns below the photo.
The views of this Editor are very valid. Such press notes with instructions from PR create bad media relations. What is needed is that PR Managers must know the requirements of media and serve them with news the way in which they are accustomed to publish.
Complaints from the Press/Media
Complaints
often heard from the Press about press notes are –
1.
PR Manager always tries to colour and suppress
free flow of legitimate news under the influence of management.
2.
Management tries to influence the press for
getting into news columns.
3.
Most of the PROs are ignorant of media
requirements and that they do not have the real concept of news.
4.
Press releases are boss-oriented and not
readers’ oriented. They use adjectives to please their management.
5.
PR managers are ignorant of journalistic
writing.
6.
PROs do not have adequate knowledge of the
latest technique in media trends.
7.
Press releases are not delivered on time in the
newspaper offices in tune with the schedule of different editions.
8. PROs give only positive news, while concealing news of negative nature.
These pitfalls and the comments of the Editor described earlier, clearly highlight the shortcomings of press relations.
Understanding the Media
Most
of the complaints from the press against press releases are due to the fact
that the PR managers are not aware of the actual requirements of the media and
news values. The structure of newspaper organisation also has to be clearly
understood in order to develop good relations with respective media. Newspapers
are categorised based on their contents, geographical area of operation and
circulation. An updated list of newspapers and journalists should always be
available with the PR Department. “Press in India”, an annual report of the
Registrar of Newspapers for India can help you to understand the newspapers,
their contents, circulation and periodicity. Incidentally, the Registrar of
Newspapers for India is now Press Registrar General of India with effect from 1st
March 2024.
Principles of Good Press Relations
Better
media relations are maintained by PR managers by practising certain principles
such as good service, honesty, frankness, impartiality, accuracy, helping
attitude etc. Here are some guidelines.
1.
Good
service: What the press expects is that PR should feed them with
the news of public interest. The best way to gain the confidence of media is,
therefore, to provide them with press material in the form in which it is
published. Newspapers publish news and views in various forms, like news
reports, features, letters to the Editor etc., PROs generally tend to be
reactive with the newspapers which is not a correct approach. Being proactive
by providing newsworthy stories will gain the goodwill of the media.
2.
Impartiality: Press relations should never develop
partiality towards only a few media persons. A fundamental principle in public
relations is that a PR manager cannot favour only one news source, ignoring
others or at the expense of other news outlets. As part of good press
relations, it is advisable that press releases should be sent to all and not to
a few selected ones.
3.
Oral
request for publication: It is the practice with some PR managers
to telephone and ask newspapers to publish their stories. Nothing irritates the
media men more than a PR manager who goes on requesting the newspapers to
publish their stories. If the material is not newsworthy, any amount of
personal effort in getting it published will be a waste.
4.
No
suppression: Once a PR manager working for a fertilizer
manufacturing company was asked to suppress the news about the strike of the
employees. But the PR manager told the management that it was not his job to
suppress the facts. Instead, he suggested that the news about the welfare
measures taken by the company for the benefit of employees, the demands
accepted and difficulties in not acceding to the demands of employees could be
highlighted instead of prevailing upon the press to suppress the news about the
strike. The management agreed to the suggestion and the views of the management
and the news about the strike were published simultaneously.
5.
Over
communication: Some PR managers send press notes regularly
whether they are of news value or not. Newspapers get endless messages from all
over the World either from their own correspondents or news agencies. If PR
manager goes on flooding the newspapers with their material of no relevance to
readers, it may result in negative relations.
6.
Helpful
attitude in emergencies: Management confronts with crises – be it
a strike, a natural calamity or an accident. In such situations, media men
would like to have full details of the incident which has great relevance to
readers. An incident, if not handled properly can at one stroke damage the
reputation of the management built up over many years. Cyclones, rail, road,
air and fire accidents are a few crisis situations to quote. The PR manager
must be of great help to the media and extend all possible assistance to them.
The presentation of unbiased facts and full information can prevent a bad
situation from becoming worse.
7.
Press
Enquiries: Press men often ask PR managers certain information about
the organisation. The PR manager must answer all questions promptly and
accurately. However, he should be careful in his comments. If the PR manager
does not know the answer, instead of telling the press that he doesn’t know, it
would be better to tell them that he would check-up and get back. The PR
manager should follow it up and see that the answer is provided as early as
possible.
8.
Rapport
with all: Once, when a PR manager visited the news room for handing
over a press note, a senior sub-editor commented, “How is that this PR manager
who maintains contacts with the Editor only has come to the news room”. This
indicates that PR manager was only in touch with the Editor and not the News
Editor and Sub Editors who actually handle the news desk. Some PR Managers like
to keep contact only with the correspondents forgetting that there are a number
of other newsmen such as editors, news editors, sub editors, lead writers,
special correspondents etc who matter much in the publication of news. PR
managers must be in touch with news men at all levels and it should be regular
and not just when there is work.
9.
No
confrontation: Sometimes uncomfortable news and critical
news are published in newspapers against the managements. To deal with such
situations, highest skill is required. If there is any criticism about the
organisation in the press, it must be contradicted and corrected in a prudent
and restrained language. Rejoinders or contradictions will get coverage in the
newspapers. Confrontation with press will not go well with PR.
10. Deserve and Desire: A
senior editor of a newspaper advised PR men to remember the dictum, ‘first
deserve and then desire’. It means, an item which has news value automatically
deserves publication.
PR
Manager or PRO with expertise in media relations shall aim at getting fair
coverage in the media based on the performance and activities. The most
important and desirable attributes that make PRO successful are – (1)
Understanding the Media (2) Evolving media goals and strategy for the
organisation (3) Collection of data of public interest (4) Journalistic writing
skills (5) Marketing news releases (6) Timely distribution of stories (7)
Accessibility (8) Not attacking the press (9) Not lying with the press (10)
Educating the management. Let us discuss these things.
1.
Understanding
the Media: PRO must have a thorough understanding of the functioning
of newspapers, their deadlines, schedules, requirements of news etc. Get an
idea of the differences in style, variety of the newspapers and then exploit
them to the advantage of the organisation by feeding the press with
reader-oriented news.
2.
Evolving
media goals and strategy: PRO cannot expect too much from the
press. He must therefore, evolve a media strategy with specific goals for
achievement. Goals give him the incentive to pursue campaigns. Goals could be
in the shape of press conference, press tours, press interviews, press releases,
features etc. PR goals should be in tune with the corporate goals.
3.
Collection
of data of public interest: PRO must be able to interview concerned
people to get the information of public interest for his news stories. Reader
is the master of newspaper. He is the target too. An organisation may wish to
present facts which are important to them. The PRO must assess the
unquestionable right of readers to demand and to issue only the facts which are
publishable and readable. It is the duty of PRO to check the facts before
Editors take his material on trust and publish.
4.
Journalistic
writing skills: PROs are not poets or novelists. They do not
write to impress or entertain the reader. His words must interest and inform
the reader briefly and clearly. Every word must count but superlatives have no
place since news is not to praise someone. A press release should not contain
either comments or opinions except facts.
5.
Marketing
news releases: Ability to market stories is an asset. Once a
story is ready, it must be placed appropriately for publication. This is very
much a selling or marketing operation even though the stories are sent free of
charge. Marketing of press releases requires a thorough knowledge of media.
6.
Timely
distribution of stories: Ability to timely distribution of
stories derives chiefly from knowing how publications are produced, printed and
distributed. If not distributed on time, news will perish. Dak editions are
printed early, while morning editions are printed at night. This must be kept
in view while sending press releases.
7.
Accessibility: Easy
accessibility to the media is of utmost importance. Be open to the journalists.
Never say ‘no comment’. Make sure there is always someone available in the
office after working hours and also in the weekends. In emergencies the press
office should function round the clock.
8.
Not
attacking the Press: Never attack the press. Except issuing a
rejoinder or a clarification there should not be a conflict with the press.
Even the rejoinder should go in a restrained language not to offend the media.
Never confront or criticise the media.
9.
Not
lying to the press: Never lie to the press. Truth is the essence
of good media relations. Therefore, lies will always be found out and can
create havoc for the PRO and his company. Honesty is always the best policy in
media relations.
10. Educating the management;
Media relations programme can be successful only when the top management is
fully involved. PRO needs the cooperation of his boss and understanding of all
key top management executives. Progress in press coverage must be shown to the
management with press clippings service. It is good to arrange informal
meetings between management and senior journalists for mutual understanding
about their requirements. Let the top management understand the media. Once
they understand the media the problems like asking PRO to get news published on
front page or in a box item can be solved.
Benefits of good media relations
There is no better way to reach the public than
through media relationships. Business owners now realize the numerous benefits
of media relations to boost brand awareness. Positive media coverage is likely
to offer higher credibility than paid advertisements. Having good media
relations gives the benefit of third-party endorsements, not to forget that it
increases social media traffic. Practical implementation of a media relations
program is an art, not a science. After all, earned media isn’t transactional.
Here are the benefits of a great media relations: (1) Credibility of the
organisation increases (2) Targeting of audiences become easy (3) Showcasing
the brand is possible through special articles (4) Building relationships for
mutual benefit and (5) Increased media mentions about the organisation for
optimizing search results.
Summary
Like Public Relations, Media relations or Press
relations is aimed at creation of mutual understanding between an organisation
and the media as a measure to get fair coverage for the activities of the
organisation. Good media relations are earned and maintained through useful
news service provided to the newspapers. Various ways and means through which
effective press relations are maintained have been explained and they can be
summarized like
Press Relations and Media Relations are one and the
same. Similarly, Media note and Press note. Newspapers, radio and television
are the three important media available for public relations in disseminating
public information. Since the electronic media i.e. Radio & Television is
under the control of government, the PR manager has to concentrate on
developing good media relations with the newspapers for effective coverage.
PR practitioner is a link between the management and
the media who has to understand the requirements of both the organisation and
the media to serve them effectively. Media relations may be described as the
art of persuading the press for getting effective coverage through news
oriented and creative information service. For this, what needs to be done is -
a. Keep the media lists up-to-date and be in constant touch
with key media persons.
b. Fulfil press requests for information, photographs and
any material on priority
c. Evolve a media strategy to carry out media relations
and respond to media enquiries.
d. Be friendly and helpful to media throughout.
Attributes like journalistic writing skills, efficient
marketing of news releases, timely distribution of stories, more accessibility
with the media make a good press relations manager.
FAQs
1. What do you mean by Media Relations?
2. What are the general complaints on PROs and press
notes?
3. List out the principles of effective media relations.
4. What are the attributes of a good press relations
manager?
5. Why press relations are important?
Model Answers
- Media
relations means managing communication between an organization and the
media. It is both an art and a science that falls under the umbrella of
public relations. Media Relations and Press Relations are one and the
same. In earlier days when there was only Newspapers, organisations
maintained Press relations. With the advent of electronic media such as
Radio, Television, Digital & Social media, Press relations have become
Media Relations.
- The general complaints of Media against PR
managers are that the PROs or PR managers always try to colour and
suppress free flow of legitimate news under the influence of the
management. PROs influence the press for getting into news columns. PROs
are ignorant of media requirements and that they do not have the real
concept of news. Press releases are boss-oriented and not readers
oriented. PROs are ignorant of journalistic writing. Press notes are not delivered
on time in the newspaper offices. PROs give only positive news while
concealing news of negative nature.
3.
Better press relations are maintained by PR
Managers by practising certain principles such as good service, being
proactive, maintaining impartiality in send press notes to all media houses,
not suppressing the facts, not pressurising the media for coverage in the news
columns, avoiding over communication, helping the reporters with right kind of
information during emergencies, maintaining rapport with all in editorial desk,
not indulging in confrontation etc.
4.
The most important and desirable attributes that
make Press Relations Officer successful are understanding the media, evolving
media strategies for his organisation, collection of data of public interest,
adopting journalistic writing skills, learn how to market the news releases,
timely distribution of stories, becoming accessible to media persons, not
attacking the press, not lying to the press, educating the media on the
possibilities of getting coverage for the messages of the organisation etc.
- There are thousands of newspapers and
periodicals with a circulation running into crores of copies. If we take
the readership of only dailies, it comes to about 5% of the Indian
population, which is not a small percentage. Radio reaches 99% of the
Indian population with most of the rural population relying for
information on radio programmes. Similarly, terrestrial Doordarshan
reaches 92 per cent of India's population. It is against this background;
media relations assume great importance in the practice of PR for
publicising the products or services of the organisation.
1.
“The _________ fires the last shot”
a.
Public
Relations
b.
Press
c.
Management
d.
Government
2.
Press
relations and __________ are one and the same.
a. Financial relations
b. Public relations
c. Media relations
d. Community relations
3.
___________
can be sent to Press for countering the criticism.
a.
Explanation
b. Notice
c. Press note
d. Rejoinder
4.
PRO shall write press note in __________.
a.
Journalistic
b.
PR
c.
Official
d.
Literary
5.
________
is not a mass medium of communication
a. Newspaper
b. Television
c. Radio
d. Blog
Keys to Multiple Choice Questions: 1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (d) 4. (a) 5. (d)
Glossary
Press Relations: Relations
with the print medium that is with News Papers, Journals, Magazines etc that
come in print.
Media Relations: Relations
with various mass media of communication namely Radio, Television, IT New
Medium, Digital Media and Social Media platforms including newspapers.
Press Notes: Press notes, Press release, Media notes, Media release are one and the same. Media notes and media release is the new name after the advent of electronic media such as Radio & Television and Digital media as means of information dissemination.
Copy: In publishing,
advertising and related fields, copy is written material, in contrast to
photographs or other elements of layout, in books, magazines, newspapers and
advertising.
Press Conference: A press
conference or news conference or media conference is a media event in which
newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask
questions.
Editor: An editor or news editor
or sub editor is a professional who is responsible for refining and improving
written content for printing in the newspaper or for broadcasting in Radio or
Television or any medium of communication.
Re-write man: The rewrite man is a newspaper reporter who works in
the office, not on the beat or street, taking information reported by others
and crafting it into stories.
News
Value: News value in journalism refers to the significant elements of
newsworthiness of the information.
Key Words:
Media, Relations, Press, Communication, Organisation, Copy,
Rejoinder, Story,
Y. BABJI
Academic
Counsellor, Public Relations (since 1989)
AP
Open University/Dr BR Ambedkar Open University
Editor,
Public Relations Voice
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