Journalists
don’t give most people in public relations, with a few
exceptions, high marks for knowing how to develop a legitimate
news story, get the story before the news media and cultivate
trusted relationships with reporters and editors.
For
many PR agencies, media relations efforts have remained stalled
for too long by predictability, traditional tactics and simply
not keeping pace. All too often, they come up short in the
areas of authentic, trusted media relationships, journalistic
skills and knowledge of what makes news.
And
all too often, the key assignment of pitching stories to the
news media is handed to the youngest members of a public relations
agency or a communications department, with little or no training
or preparation.
“Sometimes
they sound as bored and rote as a telemarketer, and you know
the PR agency has dispensed an intern to read off a sheet,”says
Linda Stasi of the New York Post. “Don’t waste
my precious daily deadline time like this. It’s not fair
to me, and it’s not fair to the poor intern who probably
gets the brunt of it all!”
“Media
relations,”says Brian Lamb, founder and chief executive
officer of C-SPAN, “is about relationships. A reporter
needs to know who you are. It’s as important as what
you have to say. If you have a great announcement but have
not established a contact or relationship in the media, no
one will pay attention.”
But
it’s hard for PR people to develop those relationships
if they don’t understand how people in the media operate.
“They
are not sensitive enough to deadlines,”says National
Public Radio’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty of the public
relations people who contact her. “They don’t bother
to ask, to find out whether you are in the middle of something,
they just launch into a pitch. Most public relations people
don’t know how journalists work. Most PR people are not
quick enough in responding.”
“I'm
not impressed with the job PR people do,”says Pat Piper,
long-time broadcast producer and writer for Larry King. “If
I say ‘no thanks’–I get a bunch of crap about
why I’m wrong and how the boss will be contacted.”
The
problem is usually simple – public relations people
just have not invested the time to know how the media works,
what
the media needs in the way of a story idea, who to contact
in the media or how to make a story pitch.
“PR
people just don’t do their homework,” says
Steve Scully, long-time producer at C-SPAN. “For
example, don’t
call me about a segment on gardening, when C-SPAN does
politics, issues, books and events.”
Media
relations remains a mystery for many executives and PR practitioners,
a seemingly vague thing that often involves hiring an agency
to do something intangible, that may or may have any results.
It is common to hear company executives express their displeasure
to their public relations people at spending vast sums of money
on media relations campaigns that totally miss the mark.
Many
journalists are fully aware that corporations often fumble
and miss excellent opportunities to be heard and gain valuable
publicity when their public relations people don’t have
the right connections and knowledge of the media.
Andrew
Buncombe, Washington correspondent for London’s Independent
newspaper, says, “Sometimes I cannot believe the opportunities
that big companies let pass when I am seeking a comment from
them on a story that is at worst neutral and at best very much
in their favor. Some [public relations people] are pathetic.”
But
there is hope. Overall, in talking with journalists about the
value of media relations to their work in the news business,
I found a healthy attitude. Journalists do need people who
will give them good stories on a regular basis. They are open
to ideas. And they believe that communications people can make
a significant contribution to both helping their clients or
employers build favorable awareness while providing valuable
assistance to the media.
As
Scott Simon, the popular host of Weekend Edition on National
Public Radio, said, “You [PR people] are part of an honorable
profession. The sanctimony of so many of us journalists aside –I
think there is probably about the same proportion of scoundrels
to saints in both lines. Cheerfulness counts for a lot.”
The
first tenet of effective media relations is to passionately
embrace the reality that it’s a relationship-driven discipline.
It really is about who you know in the news media and the level
of trust you have developed.
The
people assigned to the job of media relations need reporters
and reporters need the stories and resources they have to offer.
But it doesn’t begin as a two-way street. It begins with
outreach. The challenge in media relations is to find the right
journalists and earn their trust, through understanding of
their needs, factual information and a healthy measure of good
humor.
Writer
and BoomerCafé co-founder David
Henderson
lives in Alexandria, VA.
His email is dehenderson@speakeasy.net
Writing
my first book has been better than ... well, almost as
good as you-know-what. My first book was just published,
and it
is a feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment I have
never before experienced. A heady experience, like I have
finally
done something meaningful. And, I quietly wonder why it
took me so long – into my boomer years – to get
around to this accomplishment.