Media Relations
The News Media
The news media are omnipresent in our society. The media almost affect every area of our lives; the news media is very powerful part of our society. The media brings the distant world of politics and business into the home of the public. Business has always had a more antagonistic relationship with the press.
Before the 1970s, the public did not care much about business and political news. Mostly businessmen were interested in information about the country’s companies. Therefore, business news was relegated to a few pages toward the back of the newspapers and to a handful of business magazines. There was virtually no coverage in national and local news broadcasts.
In the 1970s, these public attitudes began to change. Today, business news are very important part of the news conveyed to the average American citizen. Typically, the media are not very excited about the good things that companies do. Instead, they are interested in reporting bad news about companies because this news is more likely to become a major story.
In today’s business world it is very important for organizations to built strong relationships with important people of the media in order to get a good relationship with the press. This can be usually handled by the media department or by a public relations firm from outside the firm. However, some important points have to be considered, when a company wants to manage successfully its media relations.
First of all, the organization has to conduct research for targeting media. An analysis of the media and the reporters can bring much information. The next time when the company wants to launch a story, it can use this information obtained from the analysis and contact favourable reporters.
Another important point is that a company has sufficient staff in its media relations department to be capable of responding all media calls. Responding to media calls can make a powerful difference in how the company appears in the story.
Once the research and analysis is completed, the executive who will be interviewed needs to be prepared for the actual conversation with the reporter. Usually, the executive should follow the next steps.
First, the executive should be given a short briefing on the reporter’s prior work. Then, he or she should be given a set of questions that the reporter is likely to ask. After that, the communications specialist should arrange a trial run with the executive to talk about answers to possible questions. Prior to the interview it should be made clear what the executive wants to communicate to the reporter no matter what he or she asks. The actual interview should look as if it is totally natural and unrehearsed.
Another important point concerning building better relations with the media is to gauge success. A company should identify those communication activities that create the most value and evaluate how well an organization’s various communications functions perform against the industry average. A demonstration of the total value created by a corporate communication department can highlight the valuable work of the department.
After relations with the right persons in the media have been created it is equally important to maintain those ongoing relationships. A company cannot simply turn a certain relationship off and on when it needs a story to be launched. Instead, maintaining media relations is a continuous long-term job.
Building a Successful Media Relations Program
To establish a successful media relation program the organization has to consider the following steps.
Often the media relationship department is confronted with problems they do not know. The management came up with a strategy and implemented this strategy. When something goes wrong the media relationship department comes into play and they do not know what is going on. To prevent this it is essential to involve the senior corporate communication executive in the decision making process. (1. Involve Media Relations Personnel in Strategy).
The next question to ask is weather the company should develop in-house capabilities or should hire outside counsels. In my opinion the best way is to develop in-house capabilities, because they can build up relationships with the media and they know exactly what is going on in the company (2. Develop In House-Relationships). Outside counsels should only be used for advice, information, or to help with the distribution of press and video news releases (3. Use Outside Counsel Sparingly).
Developing an Online Media Strategy
The last point which will be mention in this entry is the need for developing an online media strategy. Some decades ago the power was only in the hands of the media. Nowadays, with the help of the Internet the power is shifting into the hands of individuals. Through “Blogs” or other Internet sides individuals are able to express their opinion about a company or product and therewith they are able to influence the decision of other people. “Blogs” can also change customer’s altitudes. They are seriously, they act fast, and they do not dismiss request for interviews and information from other bloggers. Organizations should be aware of these trends and should scan the Internet for news about their company and products. When they do this they are able to take corrective action through communication.
Examples
I want to make an example from Lichtenstein. Some weeks ago in Europe, the was a banker who sold important documents outside the bank. He collected important documents over months and sold it for some million dollars to the German government. They used this evidence for a criminal offence. It is illegal to have checking accounts in other countries without telling it the German tax accounting department.
This is a good example for importance of media relations and the strong impact of some individuals.
Another example for media relations is the new internet platform “facebook”. This medium is for students from all over the world. They use this medium for chatting and emailing. But it has also some problems with the security of some user’s information. Some critics argue that this medium can be used to get information about other people.
Links
http://cnx.org/content/m14430/latest/
