Can’t we all just get along?
While this video is funny, what does it say about our profession? What is your perception of the relationship between PR professionals and bloggers? PR professionals and journalists? PR professionals and marketing professionals?
Evaluate these relationships from a historical standpoint and how you see these relationships today. Cite your text book!
Gina Luttrell 
This video tells the bad perceptions of people in the public relations profession. I always thought that journalist bloggers, and marketing professionals would wanted to have our help. This video says otherwise. It is very important for us to make sure that the information we are giving to the professionals is newsworthy. We don’t want them to have this stereotype of us or else they will not pay attention to our work. This is why we shouldn’t use shotgun distribution. We want to be specific to the news outlet we are using.
I think that journalists can utilize public relations professionals and many times they do. However you have to have a good standing with them. The book talks about sending “trash and trinkets” as a bad thing and I agree. If I were a journalist I wouldn’t want to be bothered with unwanted bribes. Having a good standing with a journalist means for them to respect you and can work together to get the news out to the public. For journalists they are working on a tight deadline and we want to make sure we are accessible for the journalist if they need quotes or information. Our book also talks about the “lack of access” that there is when contacting the public relations professional for the organization. This is important for us not to do so that the journalists can get the correct information that they need.
Public Relations professionals and bloggers relationship is a little different. I think this relationship is harder to build. Bloggers usually are more personal with their writing so we need to make sure we are sending the information to the right blog. Like with journalists we don’t want to use shotgun distribution.
Marketing and public relations I think have a closer relationship because they are usually both working for the same organization. They need to have the same frame of mind for the organization so they can get the message out correctly. Now more than ever this is important because of social media. The public relations professional needs to make sure they approve the marketing scheme before it goes to the public to make suer it coincides with the organizations vision.
-Sophia
Sophia,
This concept of “shotgun distribution” is so interesting to me. I find pitching any story to any reporter or social journalist to be a passionate waste of time and energy. In my work as an intern, when I needed media coverage or a resource from someone in the media, I would always think to contact someone that the organization I worked for already had an established, working relationship with. I can see how shotgun distribution could seem like an effective strategy to gain media coverage, but in reality it’s a turn off to journalists. It signals desperation to journalists, which may push them away rather than increase their desire to cover your story.
If it seems as if you’ll do anything for a sound bite or an op-ed, the press could develop a sense of mistrust for you and the work that you do. I wonder if the shotgun mentality could also create worry in a journalist’s mind that you won’t protect their exclusive?
-Lydia
Sophia,
I think to avoid shotgun distribution and unwanted bribes, the main thing to focus on is building the relationship. PR professionals are taught to constantly build and retain relationships but I don’t think many realize how powerful and beneficial and relationship in good standing can be.
I agree that marketing and PR would have a closer relationship. It could be even closer when they work for the same company because they have similar objectives and both work with the company’s mission and values in mind. The only issue that I would expect is when it comes to budget. Marketing can be easier to evaluate so the C- level folks may be more willing to invest in marketing than PR. In some places, such as nonprofits, the PR department is part of marketing. It’s really interesting to see the differences that exist when you compare the relationship between the two positions in larger companies to the positions in the smaller ones.
Sophia,
I agree with you when you say having a good relationship with a journalist should be based on respect and working together, rather than unwanted bribes. A lot of times people do think that by sending a trinket from their company, it will result in a story, but this is not the way to go. Journalists care more about what is newsworthy, and the items don’t MAKE a story, the content of the situation does. With bloggers, they care a lot about their audience so I think once we establish what bloggers are interested in what topics, we can narrow down our pitches to them. Kind of like how Gina said in class, bloggers sometimes create a timeline of what they’re going to be discussing on their blogs, if we can establish a relationship with a blogger and learn their timeline we can decide what content to send to them.
Sophia,
I agree with what you said about shotgun distribution. I think it is very obvious when a PR professional is using this technique and journalists will quickly spot this and disregard the press release. If a PR professional uses shotgun distribution too often, it could get them a bad name among journalists. I agree with you that you have to have a good standing with journalists in order to work with them, and I think that goes for any professional relationship. I think for better cooperation from both journalists and PR professionals, each one needs to at least act like they care about the other person’s job and not treat the professional relationship as one that is only there to serve their needs. If they emphasize the relationship as one mutually beneficial, they are probably more likely to foster cooperation.
I also agreed with your points about marketing and PR, and had some similar thoughts. Marketing and PR professionals are generally on the same team, so it is easier to work together. Their goals are more or less in-line with one another’s, so there is less likely to be friction in that relationship.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen the video before but I’ve always found the relationship between PR practitioners and journalists very interesting. The stereotypes that are portrayed may not be completely true for all journalists and practitioners but it makes it seem that way. The video mocks the relationship but there is always some level of truth behind it.
I’ll be presenting at the Undergraduate Symposium on the relationship between PR practitioners and journalists so I’m always intrigued to learn more. The two positions have a hit or miss type of relationship, where it can be a great and functional relationship or it can be one similar to the video. If you look at the history a bit, you’ll see that a decent amount of practitioners were once journalists. So where does the hostility come from? To me, the relationship between the two is comparable to some sibling relationships or that of an “old, married couple”. They annoy each other so much, but at the end of the day they both know life wouldn’t be the same without each other. Just as the end of the video says, the two are made to work with each other.
To be honest, I’ve never really looked at the relationship between practitioners and bloggers. It could be because practitioners also have to know how to blog though. It almost seems more difficult to develop a relationship with a blogger. The journalist counts on the PR professional to get a story but the blogger needs just about nothing from the PR person. We would have to try harder and work more to develop a relationship with them. The book that we use in class brings up complaints and how to work with bloggers but it would be really fascinating to get some information on how the relationship worked from the very beginning of blogs.
My perception of the relationship between PR and marketing professionals is basically on equal playing field. You don’t hear too much about their relationship but I don’t think there is much conflict between the two. In my mind, they work together when necessary but other than that I don’t know too much about the relationship.
Raven,
I am curious to learn more about the relationship between PR and marketing professionals because as you said, you don’t hear too much about it. We can assume their relationship is positive because they are working together with the same goals in mind, but isn’t that the same of journalists and PR? The video does have some truth behind it, and as we begin to experience these relationships ourselves, it’s up to us to take the hostility and turn it into something opposite. I like how you compare the relationship to that of an “old married couple,” because it’s very similar to that. The two parties know they need and want each other, but aren’t sure how to handle each other’s company.
I think you’re absolutely right in the fact that it’s up to us to turn the hostility around. I think with our education, the people just now entering the profession have been presented an opportunity to turn it around a bit and make the different relationships exist better terms.
Raven,
I think the relationship between PR professionals and journalists is really interesting as well. When a person works or is educated on both sides of the coin, I think that there is a better understanding and that person is less likely to view the other professional negatively. I think any journalist could benefit from some PR experience and any PR professional could benefit from journalism experience. PR teaches good social media skills, which journalists need to have nowadays. On the other hand, journalism teaches good writing skills, which PR professionals need to have for blogs, press releases, etc. Also, if a person is educated in both professions they can better understand the job of each professional and know where that person is coming from. As I wrote in my post, I think PR professionals and journalists need to realize their jobs might be different but they overlap and have a lot of similarities.
The overlapping and many similarities definitely need to be understood! The two have a working relationship now but if we all took the time to develop a deeper understanding of each other’s roles then it would create a better and more cohesive relationship.
Raven,
I am interested in the relationship between bloggers and public relations professionals as well. It seems hard to build this relationship with them. I agree with you when you say they don’t really need much from us. Their writing is more personalized and specific to their readers so it will be harder for us to relate our information to the right blog. I hope to learn more about this because I think blogs are becoming more popular than ever before.
I also agree with you on the relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists. It is like an old married couple or siblings; we both need each other. I find it interesting that most practitioners were once journalists. Geoff Larcom was a journalist before he got the position he is now in. When he came to our intro to PR class last semester he said that it had helped him coming from a journalist background. My question is also why is there still so much hostility even though we work so closely?
-Sophia
I am very intrigued to see else you know about the relationship between PR and Journalists. When is this symposium? 🙂 I really love the analogy that we are like “siblings” with journalists. It really makes a lot of sense. I did not know that that most PR professionals were previously in the journalism field. Because they have seen both sides of the story, you would think that relationships would grow and flourish, right?
I agree that I think it would be harder to have a good relationship between Public Relation Professionals and might be able to see how “we” can be seen as snobby. We may think that bloggers aren’t as prestigious as journalists and therefore can’t offer as much exposure. I think we have to be careful what bloggers we target to make sure it’s is relevant to them but I think that it is an avenue that isn’t explored as much as it should be.
Is it that bloggers don’t need much from a public relations professional or is it that in the sea of bloggers so many don’t know how to use the information?
Your presentation at the symposium does sound interesting. I commented in a reply to Catherine about realizing that perhaps journalists feel threatened by PR and think they could be out of a job, or at least have wages / hours cut. Not sure if it works for what you are doing but may be something worth looking into for your presentation.
Be sure to keep us up to date!
This video doesn’t make public relations look like a beneficial aspect of writing, and in doing so discredits the profession and creates an assumption that PR and journalism relationships are negative. The journalist suggested that PR is always trying to spin, and pitch stories that aren’t newsworthy and that they are the “dark side” of writing. If journalists have a need for PR for sources and stories, why is it they feel like we bother them?
I agree with the textbook about “there will always be areas of friction and disagreement but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a solid working relationship based on mutual respect for each other’s work,” (Wilcox, 92) when it comes to my perception between the relationship with PR and journalists. I feel like the areas of friction can prohibit these working relationships if we don’t know how to handle situations with professionalism and ease. For instance in the text we learn one area of friction is getting to the point, we know that journalists are on deadline, so how do we establish a positive relationship with them if we are limited to such short amounts of time?
My perception of the relationship between PR professionals and bloggers is that it can be equally as beneficial as a relationship with a journalist. In the textbook, we read “a number of organizations now invite bloggers to news conferences and special events,” (Wilcox, 93) this is important if we want our story to reach several outlets. This can also generate public opinion on whatever it is we want them to write about and since “bloggers are not interested in you, they are interested in their readers. Your pitch should be about their audience and how you can bring value to them,” (Barone, 93) it may be easier to narrow down what content you wish to pitch to a blogger.
From a historical standpoint, however, I feel that the relationships are going both ways. With the statistics from the last blog post, we learn that the majority of stories published today are pitches from PR professionals. This doesn’t mean that journalists are appreciative of the relationship between them and PR though.
-Leah
Leah,
I think you bring up a great point. If journalists need our stories and we need them to get our stories out there then why does either side feel constantly bothered? It could have something to do with the newsworthy component but what about when otherwise? This could have something to do with the sense of entitlement that we talked about in class. Some professionals in either field feel as though the stuff that they bring to the table it more important. Even though many journalists rely on PR professionals for stories, the hostility still exists.
I think the fact that bloggers care more about their audience than the PR professional is a great aspect to have for them. But it definitely makes the job of a professional significantly harder. There is more research involved but I feel like the outcome can be great! When we put in so much work to focus on the audience of the blogger, it not only helps get the story picked up but it helps to deepen the relationship.
Leah,
I think you raised a great first point. Whenever I think about the relationship between journalists and PR practitioners it seems to be in a negative light. I never initially recognize the need for a symbiotic relationship between both. What’s interesting to me is how PR people think that there’s a difference between their spin and journalists’ bias. In the video the journalism seemed to be constantly frustrated about PR’s need to spin things in her favor. However, I don’t think it did enough to acknowledge that journalists’ motives for even beginning to write a story are often fueled by personal bias and the bias of the person they work for. We write things that present our organization in the best light, and a journalist with even the slightest amount of autonomy will choose their stories and the perspective they tell them from based on their own biases as well. Though the context is different, I think that the core motives of spin and bias are much more alike than we would like to think they are.
-Lydia
Leah,
I agree that the video didn’t represent public relations practitioners in a positive or professionally beneficial way whatsoever. I felt like the presentation and exaggeration of the relationship between the two professions was unfair (favoring journalists). In response to your question of why journalists are “bothered” by PR professionals, I think the biggest factor, simply, is that our jobs are different. Journalists have a certain professional objective and we have ours, which is why we perceive news and newsworthiness differently. They want their “hard news” in order to create stories to cover new and relevant information through one specific media channel, while PR practitioners disseminate informative and persuasive messages that are written and tailored for a specific audience. In order to establish relationships that are positive and mutually beneficial (like our job entails us to do) with journalists, I think we first need to learn to think like they do when dealing with them professionally. Since deadlines are crucial and time is limited for journalists, PR people should be prepared to deliver information in the most concise and efficient way possible, while still emphasizing the key message and upholding the highest level of advocacy to the client. This way, we can ensure that our information has been successfully communicated and be certain that we’re facilitating an effective relationship.
-Lauren
This video shows a lot of the beliefs that public relations professionals and journalists hold about each other. In the beginning of the video, the journalist makes a comment about the PR professionals stories often not even being newsworthy. In our textbook, complaints about PR personnel are listed. One of these complaints is poorly written material and some of the characteristics of that are that press releases sound like ads or that they don’t include anything newsworthy (p. 90). I think this is one of the biggest problems that journalists have had and continue to have with PR professionals. Some PR professionals do not know how to write in AP style or how to promote their client with material that is newsworthy and doesn’t just sound like an ad. I think poor writing is an automatic turn-off for journalists because it gives them the impression that the PR professional doesn’t really care about anything but getting their name out there and is wasting the journalists time.
I think trash and trinkets are another big turn-off for journalists. PR professionals look silly when they send “trash and trinkets” with news releases because journalists are not even supposed to accept these things, and second, it makes the PR professional look like they are trying way too hard. The textbook gives a quote from senior editor at CNET Matt Lake that I think sums up trash and trinkets perfectly, “These things are really stupid” (p. 91).
PR professionals have their problems with journalists and bloggers, which I can understand as well. Two of these complaints listed in the textbook are lack of preparation and failure to contact the organization (p. 91). The book says that journalists and bloggers will sometimes call PR professionals at the last minute and want a quote before deadline, which often requires them to respond “no comment” because they have no time to prepare. I can see how this would be very frustrating, especially because they miss out on an opportunity to get their client’s name out there in a positive way and it can look negative if the journalist reports that they declined to comment. PR professionals also said they get irritated by journalists and bloggers who don’t take the time to inform themselves before an interview. Not only is this irritating for PR personnel, it makes journalists look lazy and unprofessional. I have, admittedly, been writing a story and gone into an interview ill-prepared. I think every journalist has made this mistake at one point, but it is definitely one to avoid. It makes the journalist look bad and wastes both their’s and the interviewee’s time.
Overall, I think the problems in relationships between PR professionals and journalists comes from a lack of understanding of the other’s point-of-view. Professionals on both sides need to realize they all have a job to do and these jobs are different, but often overlap and require one another’s help. I also think that PR professionals and journalists are so focused on their differences, and would get along a lot better if they focused on similarities. For example, some journalists think that PR professionals want to conceal the truth and present a false image of things. However, PR professionals operate under ethical guidelines just as journalists do. The textbook put it perfectly when it said that they need to have “mutual respect for each other’s work” (p. 92).
I think the relationship between PR and marketing is a lot more positive. Both PR professionals and marketing professionals want success and a positive image of the company. Also, a lot of marketing and PR work overlaps. For example, a PR professional might write blogs for a company’s website and share them on their social media platforms. These blogs can also act as a form of advertisement because they are getting the company’s name out there and potentially drawing people to their website through the link. Another example could be a flier that advertises an event. This is a marketing tool, but also involves PR because you want it to appeal to your audience and use language and design that is in alignment with your company’s image and messages.
Chelsea-
I like how you said that instead of public relations practitioners and journalists looking at their differences that they need to look at their similarities. This is a good solution to making the relationship better. It is true that we both have such similar guidelines we just go about our jobs in a different way. When we enter our careers I hope to remember this so I can relate to the journalist easier. It is important to be able to be empathetic towards journalist and for them to be empathetic towards us.
I want to make sure that in the future I am fully prepared for an interview. I think this is common courtesy toward the journalist. If I am expecting them to be prepared so will I. Having a good relationship with journalists and bloggers is starting to seem more of common sense to me as I read all of our posts. It seems that if we treat each other how we would want to be treated then it is as simple as that.
-Sophia
I like your excerpt about “trash and trinkets.” Our book quoted an AP reporter saying, “If a gift is worth more than $20, I’m not allowed to accept it. If it’s worth less than $20, it’s crap and I don’t want it.” I thought it was a funny little quip, but it’s true. (Unless we’re talking about free food, let’s be real here.) Journalists know when a PR practitioner is trying too hard, and it looks bad. Nobody likes a suck up. If you’re trying to get a journalist to treat you special, give them a reason other than a free t-shirt. Be easy to work with, give them newsworthy story ideas, establish a good working relationship. They’d much rather have their job made easier than some useless free stuff that just takes up space.
I feel the perception of journalists and public relations professionals should good one. As we have learned from our textbook and as well as the article from last week 60% of what journalists publish comes from what we send them. An integral part of a public relations professional is to be accessible to journalist to help them write their stories. From our text, “public relations materials save media, time, money, and effort of gathering their own news.” This is imperative especially in today’s society where most publications are online and “newspapers” aren’t being distributed daily in local communities and the number of people working in these offices have been greatly decreased.
I can possibly see where the tension comes from because in the past many journalists may not have had to rely on public relation professionals. Many companies may not have had a job that helped facilitate their public relations and connecting with journalists and the public. As the field grew, journalists then may have thought that we were “hiding the truth” or “pushing our own agenda.” Now the channel of communication probably became longer and perhaps more tedious. This is just my idea I wish I knew where this stereotype originated from and I hope that our generation of PR practitioners can help change this mindset so we can co-exist.
We have the tools to help generate good relationships with journalists and bloggers when we graduate and sending “gimmicks that often accompany news releases and media kits” and poorly written pieces I feel can be the most detrimental to our relationship with journalists and perhaps the two things we have the most control over.
A point I thought of when reading your reply is perhaps some journalists feel threatened by PR. It is no secret that news papers are cutting staff. If I was in a position where I knew 60 percent of my job was done by someone else I would feel threatened.
The text uses the buzz words a publisher would be looking at when deciding where to make cuts. Saves time and money! I almost would put money on this being something that causes friction between us and the journalists of the world.
As for the gimmicks and poor writing I am sure that in time those aspects will become less as a higher standard for public relations professionals is expected. Especially if more journalists begin to go away and the weight of the media world comes more on our shoulders.
I am wondering if one issue between journalists and public relations professionals is a bit to do with ego. I have worked with some journalists who had pride in writing a story that was all from the mind of the writer start to finish. Even editing advice seemed to be met with a bit of resentment, as if it had to be all from the writer start to finish. I may be way off but think it could be part of the situation for some journalists.
From the text I appreciated the media relations checklist. I never thought about it but knowing your media is very important and deserves to be at the top of the list.
I have seen things come into the news room of a college news paper that seemed odd. One that stands out is when we received a press release about a senior living center. Not sure who thought a student paper who’s main demographic is 18-25 year old readers would be interested in a story about a senior living center.
I appreciate also learning about shot gunning. That is something I will keep with me as a difference between looking like I know what I am doing and knowing what I am doing when it comes to future PR work I do.
Ben,
I couldn’t agree more with your statement about ego. I have wrote about it in many posts and have come to that same conclusion. Each job has a certain feeling of “entitlement” that their job is more important than each other. PR thinks that journalism couldn’t do it without them while journalism thinks the same thing. When they can learn to work together without ego, the job will get done more effectively and efficiently if PR and journalism can learn to see each other as a TEAM.
This video passionately speaks to the necessity of public relations professionals to work with the press. Though we may not want to admit it, journalists and PR pros always seem to have a love-hate relationship. Journalists can’t stand the way PR people spin stories to the advantage of the organization that they are working for. Public relations practitioners also seem to engage in what the textbook calls “shotgun distribution,” where they pitch any story to any journalist without regard to beat, simply to get the news coverage. However, PR professionals seem to be constantly frustrated with journalists’ consistent sense of entitlement. Journalists seem to expect PR people to respond to their beck and call, which, to be frank, gets pretty annoying and can cause what the textbook refers to as “blacklisting.”
The social press seems to be similar to journalists in the way they constantly need information. If anything, they have a more regular and consistent need for information depending on the size and nature of the organization they work for. However, there are some differences between the work of journalists and that of bloggers. The textbook refers to bloggers as “citizen journalists;” a blogger’s work will require them to use more voice and opinion in their writing. When working with bloggers, it’s necessary to show them how writing a story on your organization “can bring value to them.” Bloggers’ focus is on their readership and how they can effectively engage them. So for PR practitioners planning to pitch to them, paying attention to their audiences and their overall tone is key.
Even though the overall goals of our work may be different, working with the media in all aspects is a skill that every PR professional needs to have. Media relations wouldn’t exist without both sides.
I can see where the journalist’s “sense of entitlement” can get irritating for PR practitioners, but in many ways, I think the journalist is entitled. When a PR practitioner pitches a story to a journalist, who’s usually on a pretty strict deadline, they need their info as soon as they can possibly get it. If a PR practitioner partakes in shotgun distribution and has too much on their plate with all of the reporters trying to talk to them, and can’t get back to all of the journalists with the necessary information, then that’s their problem. That’s part of the reason that shot gun distribution is unprofessional. If you ask someone to do you a favor, and then make it inconvenient for them to actually do the favor, it’s just rude.
The video negatively depicts public relations professionals and exaggerates their relationship with journalists. As with any relationship, there are tensions as well as individual needs, but the video creates an incompetent and discredited perception of public relations.
I think that the relationship between public relations professionals and journalists over the course of history has become a lot more dependent, because “reporters and editors spend most of their time processing information, not gathering it” (Wilcox, Reber, 2013: pg. 88), and because public relations relies heavily on a variety of established media channels to “efficiently distribute information to millions of people and validate the credibility and value of the information to the public” (pg. 89). The prominence of print and broadcast media has declined in recent years because of the overwhelming amount of social media and advertising, so journalists rely on public relations people for newsworthy material. Surveys and analyses of media content show staggering results of the media’s reliance on public relations, according to both Sigal’s reports back in 1973 and PRWeek’s survey in 2010. But I think the dependence is substantial both ways, because the media has enormous power and influence that gives the information from public relations credibility and importance by deciding that it is newsworthy.
I also think the recently distinguished relationship between PR professionals and bloggers is interesting and absolutely necessary. While these “citizen journalists” are looked at as unprofessional and amateur reporters, they’ve become a necessary and influential part of media relations. Bloggers are helpful to PR people because they are not interested in you, your company, or how cool you think you are. They are interested in their readers. Your pitch should be about their audience and how you can bring value to them,” according to Lisa Barone (pg. 93). Blogs are written and tailored for their readers, which supports the ultimate purpose of public relations: to inform, to shape opinions and attitudes, and to motivate. I think that professional blogs coincide with public relations because the information is being distributed with the audience in mind. I do, however, think that the relationship between a PR professional and a blogger is harder to create and maintain, because bloggers write more informally and for entrainment or informative purposes. In contrast, public relations represents a company or client in their best interest, and professionally communicates with the intent to inform and motivate.
Marketing and public relations has a more affirmative and maintainable relationship, since both aim to create a positive image and/or message for a company or client. Public relations corresponds with marketing because the positive reputation and publicity that public relations practitioners build for a client is also beneficial in advertising.
-Lauren
I agree with you about how important Blogs are, I’d even go a step further and say I think that if you find the correct Blog for your client, Blogs become as important as the major news publications (NPR, The Wall Street Journal) to PR practitioners because it is a a channel to an targeted active audience that is already active.
-Andrew
Though I’m a student and have never officially worked in the PR or journalism industry, I can see this video from both sides. PR practitioners and journalists work in such a similar industry, but have different goals and ways of doing things. Journalists are almost taught to be pushy and do whatever it takes to get the story, but our book advises PR practitioners to even follow up when it comes to press releases. When a journalist has a story to write, and a crucial contact isn’t getting back to them, another phone call, another email, hell, even a Facebook message or Tweet is even necessary. But journalists resent when this is done to them by a PR practitioner. It’s just kind of ironic and funny. I can see why both people get irritated by the other, but they both have to realize that it’s not so much the journalists/PR practitioner’s pushy or off-putting personality, rather than the jobs that they’re doing. They’re not acting that way to intentionally strain their working relationships, they’re just doing what their jobs call for.
Carmen, I agree with what you are saying about that PR and journalists shouldn’t take each other so seriously when they get irritated because in the end it’s not them, it’s the job that they are doing. Like I said before in earlier posts, I think it is just all a matter of ego when it comes to why they can’t get along sometimes.
I definitely agree with your guys about recognizing your frustration with a at a given moment at work and who the coworker really is. I work at a cocktail bar in downtown Ann Arbor that is very most nights of the week. Distinguishing the stress caused by the people around you verses the frustrations caused by the role they are playing in the system is vital. People are under a lot of stress, your fuse gets pretty short and people will yell at each other, it can be pretty harsh. But at the end of the night, it’s no hard feelings and were best friends again because we all understand that the system around us is very stressful and if you got in at 2 PM. by 1 AM. you might snap at someone. I could see this being a really valuable skill to learn when working crisis management.
-Andrew
This video said so many things about the professions of PR and how almost every other department gets upset that they need PR so much. In the video, Journalism thinks that PR is “uptight, and stuffy” because they know how to present themselves as well as relate to the public. Journalism also thinks that PR stories are not as good as what they could report on. In the book, they talk about the media’s and journalism’s reliance on PR. “…common complaints journalists have about public relations people involve poorly written material, shotgun distribution, inaccessible public relations, etc.” The public relations personal complain that journalists “constantly change their minds about using a story, don’t contact the organization for a comment, fail to do their homework, etc.” These are just a few of the complains that both sides have about each other and the list continues. Another different relationship is PR and the blogger. As we know, bloggers get the majority of their stories from the internet sources, which is mostly press releases from PR professionals. So in turn PR sometimes feel like the bloggers are using their material for the blog but changing the words. Also PR has a relationship with the marketing professionals. Again, marketing professionals heavily rely on PR’s sources and credibility in order to effectively market their product to the public. In a sense, it is becoming more and more clear just how important PR is to a lot of professions relating to the public, almost like the glue that keeps everything together. In the end of the video the “counselor” says that Journalism and PR and “destined to be together,” which is true because without each other’s help than the whole business would not be able to get done what it gets done, which is reporting the facts and most recent stories as well as relating to what the public wants.
I really liked what you said about PR being the glue that holds everything together. I remember in my writing for PR class we discussed just how far this glue goes. It was suggested that PR even acts as an organization’s conscience which I thought was pretty cool.
-Andrew
The video portrays our profession as more straight laced and professional than journalism. It also asserts journalists would claim that we spin content, care about what everyone else thinks, pretend to like everyone and are bothering Journalists with phone calls with new pitches regardless of the journalist’s agenda. The video Presents PR practitioners with more flaws than Journalists. The only negative comments made against Journalism is their tendency to change the press release as well as their capacity to report on things before they have been 100% verified. I think the biggest takeaway from the video is that PR and Journalism will always be intertwined.
Journalism and PR has always had a symbiotic relationship, PR practitioners depend on Journalists to get their information to an audience and the Journalist to depend of the PR practitioner for content and leads. Today, traditional print and broadcast media have become even more reliant on PR sources due to major drops in revenue from advertising (Wilcox, 89)
The relationship between PR practitioners and and bloggers is brand new compared to the relationships between PR practitioners and Journalists though it functions in relatively the same way and is subject to the same areas of friction. According to the class text, “PR practitioners complaining about Bloggers and Journalists changing their minds about using a story and failure to contact the organization for comment. Where Bloggers and Journalists complain about PR practitioner’s shotgun distribution of irrelevant material, inaccessible public relations staff.” ( Wilcox, 114) among others. Sending irrelevant material becomes more offensive to bloggers as their writing subjects are very specific. As PR practitioners we will have to be able to avoid these common pitfalls and build meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with Journalists.
Given marketing and public relations workings are pulling for the same thing, I’d guess that synchronicity is a must in the relationship and to achieve and maintain that synchronicity, proximity is smaller and communication much much greater than the relationship between PR and Bloggers/Journalists.
-Andrew
This video is all of the negative assumptions journalists make about PR practitioners and vice versa. As I’m sure every PR major/practitioner has experienced people assuming we do xyz, these perceptions get really annoying after a while. I think it’s safe to say that the general public has no idea what PR practitioners actually do, yet most people have some kind of opinion about what they think we do. This stretches to journalists, bloggers, marketers, and advertisers in different ways. These people have a better view of what goes on in the PR world, but with so much overlap it is easy for them to get annoyed or feel like PR is getting in the way.
I think that journalism and PR is a mutual give and take relationship. Obviously PR gives a lot more and journalism takes more, but that is simply the nature of our roles. I think it is the PR practitioners job to present news outlets with relevant stories and information that present their client in the best way possible. They serve as advocates for their clients, but lying and twisting a situation is never acceptable.
I think it is easy for journalists to perceive PR content as spin because it is biased. I also think they sometimes fail to realise or understand that it is our job to be biased toward our client. It is their job as journalists to sift through biased information and present it in a unbiased way. It’s frustrating for both sides because no PR pro would ignore the interests of their client and getting inundated with subjective information means more work for journalists.
A PR practitioners relationship with bloggers is a whole other animal. Bloggers are a different breed, particularly if that is their main occupation. The whole appeal of blogging is that readers buy into a character. Either the person is hyper-relatable or they are larger than life. This can make for a very interesting relationship. It is vital that PR practitioners pay attention to the content and audience of blogs as well as the characters of the bloggers themselves. Misinterpreting those components and pitching aimlessly will only hurt the relationship with a blogger. They will not only be annoyed that they had to read the email, but it is almost an insult by not taking the time to understand and appreciate what they do and who is in the community.
I think the hostility between PR practitioners and marketers and advertisers is a lot of presumed stepping on toes. Everyone wants their idea to be the biggest contribution to the bottom line. PR is one of those departments that have their fingers in every pie and have some say in most of what goes on. At the same time however, it is the PR practitioners job to promote campaigns that marketers and advertisers have come up with. To be completely honest, everyone just needs to take a breath and read their job description. A big issue that I have noticed is companies trying to combine advertising and PR. They have entirely different roles and even more difference in education. But when advertisers think they can do PR and PR practitioners think they are advertising wizards, there can be a lot of tension between the two.