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1 Jobs in public relations (conclusion); PR and the media October 10, 2006
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Jobs in public relations (conclusion); PR and the mediaOctober 10, 2006

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PR employment settings

• Corporations• Nonprofit organizations• Government

---------------• Public relations agencies• Independent consulting

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Review of corporate PR functions

• Consumer relations (marketing PR)• Employee relations• Media relations• Government relations• Community relations• Business-to-business relations• Investor relationsWhich of these would you expect to be part

of non-profit organizations’ PR functions?

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PR in non-profit organizations

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Examples of non-profit organizations that generate PR communications

• Hospitals• Universities (and their alumni

organizations)• Charitable organizations• Churches

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Do non-profits use these?• Consumer relations (marketing PR):

maybe• Employee relations: yes• Media relations: yes• Community relations: yes

• Business-to-business relations: not really– But there are “suppliers,” sort of

• Investor relations: no

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Non-profits’ PR efforts also include

• Donor relations– Communicating with donors

(producing and distributing letters, pamphlets, videos)

– Fundraising•Which includes writing and producing direct-mail solicitations

• Member relations

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PR in government

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Where you’ll find PR used in government

• Legislative bodies (US and state Senate, House)

• Judicial system (courts)• White House• Executive departments (Labor, State,

Education, Transportation, HHS, etc.)• State governors’ offices• Government agencies (FDA, SEC, FTC,

Postal System, FEMA, Homeland Security)

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Who are the publics for government PR?

• Voters (the “general public”)• News media• Employees• Other government officials (e.g.,

legislatures)

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What is government PR called?

• Not “public relations”!• Often, one of these

– Public information– Public affairs

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Typical public information duties

• Writing press releases• Writing speeches for politicians (and

preparing politicians for public appearances)

• Writing brochures, pamphlets, etc. on policy

• Meeting with constituents (voters)• Speaking (in role of official

spokesperson)

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From a PR standpoint, what’s true of the 3 categories we just looked at?

• Corporations• Non-profit organizations• Government

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•They generate their own PR materials

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But who else produces PR?

• Public relations agencies• Independent PR consultants

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And who do they produce PR for?

• In other words, who are their clients?– Corporations– Non-profit organizations– Government

• The work they do– May either be in addition to what

the clients do themselves– Or may be the only PR done

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PR agencies• Range from 2 people to over 1000• Larger agencies divide employees into

“account teams”– Each team works on one or more

“accounts” (clients)– Team may consist of account

executives, writers, designers, producers

– Or, one person on a team might do everything

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Independent PR consultants• Some PR work is done by individuals• Hired on a project-by-project basis• Some consultants specialize in one PR

function– Crisis management, Event planning,

Speechwriting• Many are capable of doing whatever’s

needed• Consultant might sub-contract work to others

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What skills do you need?

• Writing• Writing• Writing• Writing• Writing• Writing• Writing• Writing

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What other skills do you need?

• Oral communication– Public speaking, phone calls, one-on-

one meetings, group meetings• Organization

– Planning, details, logistics• Research

– Know how to look for and information, ask the right questions

• Multi-tasking

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What qualities do you need?• Enthusiasm and energy (the hours are

LONG)• Intellectual curiosity

– About the world, news, current events, history

– About your client’s business (category)– About business more generally– About media, journalism– About popular culture and entertainment

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Let’s look at media relations in more depth

• All PR-involved organizations use it– Corporations, not-for-profits,

consultants, agencies, governments• Central to all PR functioning• More important now than ever

– Why?

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The power of media (from a PR perspective)

• Relatively cheap—and effective—method of communicating– with large, diverse, geographically

dispersed publics• When media publish information in news

or feature stories (as opposed to ads)…– Conveys sense of legitimacy (it’s

news!)– Implies a third-party endorsement

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Problems of media (from PR perspective)

• Media are “uncontrolled”• PR pros can send news and information

– But have no control on how it’s used– Or even if it’s used

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What would be examples of “controlled” information sources?

• Company publications• Newsletters• E-mail• Closed-circuit TV• Paid advertising• Company web site

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Importance of each medium to PR pros

• Internet– “pushes” information (from

organization to publics)– But also lets consumers—and

journalists!—”pull” desired information from web site

– So PR pros must always keep their organizations’ web sites up to date and “on message”

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Newspaper

• Despite recent declines in circulation– Still powerful in shaping public

agenda– Still seen as most credible of media

•Especially for political news, world events

– Still engender loyalty from readers

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Magazines

• Consumer mags may not be as valuable to PR pros as are trade and professional journals– Which are read by business leaders– Which are focused on an industry or

organization category

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Radio

• Value: a “personal” medium– Enters people’s lives– Feels one-to-one– Radio stations open to promotional

events– Listeners develop strong parasocial

relationships with favorite hosts

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TV

• Most powerful mass medium• Primary entertainment source• Primary news/information source• So best for reaching large (not targeted)

audiences– Still the primary medium for product

publicity– Which programming, specifically?

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Relationships between journalists and PR professionals

• To explore this, we need to consider how each side sees itself– And its roles and responsibilities

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How journalists see their jobs

• Important• See themselves as serving democratic

society• They are the public’s “watchdog”—their

eyes and ears• They are the public’s interpreters

– They not only report on what’s going on– They explain it, make sense of it, place

it in context

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Journalists’ priorities

• News coverage must be fair, accurate, balanced

• Not concerned with whether an organization (or candidate or cause) is seen in positive or negative light– More important is that it’s a balanced

light

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Of course, it doesn’t always work that way…

• Why not?• Media can be (and are) biased• More important, choices are made:

agenda-setting– Only certain issues are covered– Only certain issues are emphasized– In other words, journalists are gate-

keepers, allowing some stuff in, keeping other stuff out

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How PR pros see journalists

• To a PR professional, a journalist is– An audience (explain?)– A medium (explain?)– A gatekeeper

• Thus, from PR perspective, a journalist can be a help or a hindrance

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So what does this mean?

• If you’re a PR practitioner, you NEED journalists to work with you so you accomplish your goals

• And you recognize that journalists need you– You can be a source of information

that they might not be able to otherwise get

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Mutual dependency• Journalists like to think they’re

independent– And they would probably like to be

independent• Today’s reality

– They can’t afford to be– They need the information that PR pros

provide them•Even though they’re skeptical about it and its intentions

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What makes a PR pro effective?

• Positive relationships with media• Writing PR materials in a way that

journalists can use them and want to– Recognize what’s truly newsworthy– Be accurate and honest in your press

releases– Provide timely information, news,

photos, background information– Write like a news writer

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Perhaps most important

• Recognize that journalists want to cover what truly is news and newsworthy– Don’t provide information that serves

ONLY your organization– Show how the information is of public

interest• Problem: not all PR does this…• Video: Truth Merchants