Media Skills 2014: Week 3

Media Skills 2014!Week 3: Understanding the Media Environment !

Dr Kane Hopkins

The Hannah & Elizabeth Show

Peer Mentor Hannah MerrittTuesday 11am–12pm and Thursday 12–1pmAKO2, which is upstairs in the library next to the computers. !

Class Representative Elizabeth Ellis: elizabethellis40@gmail.com!

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New Zealand National Party

What is News?

• To get coverage for your client/organisation, you need to understand how news happens; can be routine, staged and/or spontaneous — and media relations staff facilitate in all these

• Routine news is day-to-day; often covered in journalists’ “rounds” (e.g. court, local government, sports)

• Staged news is “managed” by PR practitioners (or a more informal equivalent) (e.g. politicians’ news conference, protest marches)

• Spontaneous news is unpredicted events such as Christchurch earthquake — but there will usually be a managed aspect that kicks in at some point.

What is News?

• Information about recent events or happenings • Information about previously unknown events and

happenings• Fresh information of any kind• Newsworthy material: “a public figure on a scale

unimaginable in America; whatever he did was news”• Middle English news, new things, tidings

Newsworthiness

• Sufficiently interesting to be reported in news bulletins; "the judge conceded the newsworthiness of the trial"; "he is no longer news in the fashion world"

• Something strange or just happened• New information about specific and timely events; "they

awaited news of the outcome”• New information of any kind; even about past events, if

previously unknown

The media relations context…

• It’s well established overseas that journalists exhibit a ‘neurotic double bind’ (Haller, 2007) or ‘love-hate’ attitude towards public relations

• Does it happen here? • How widespread in NZ is the journalistic view that public

relations is a “tragic distortion of the once proud profession of journalism” and “the Devil's business” (Trotter, 2007, paras. 1 & 7)

NZ Research: Top 10 response themes

1. Can be useful or helpful2. Live and let live, has a place3. Invective (wholly, unequivocally wrong / evil / dark side /

manipulative / sneaky / liars)4. More money and or better conditions5. Of concern because blocks access to truth or corrupts flow of

communication with undue influence6. PRs lack media understanding or skill7. There are two types of PR – good and bad8. Journalists are responsible for what happens with PR9. A necessary evil, tolerated but not liked10. Advertising, puffery, spin, not to be taken seriously

Roles of Media Workers

• The news media are considered (by those seeking coverage) to be an “uncontrolled” media

• News workers select, filter, control and modify what flows through media channels, where and when

• Owners, journalists and editors are therefore “gatekeepers”• To successfully practise “media skills”, you need to

understand what pressures and influences impact on the gatekeepers, and the nature of the media relations-journalism relationship

Journalists

• Described as “professional busybodies, driven by curiosity”• Their working environment is categorised by deadline pressures,

increased competition and tight budgets, leading to increased reliance on unsolicited material from business/community

• Media structures and operating methods offer both opportunities and limitations for those trying to get a message into the news

• Critical theory suggests this privileges the wealthy/powerful and squeezes out alternative voices (journalists also tend to be part of a privileged social group)

The Newsroom

• As a communication person, you need to be familiar with the main players at your local/key media outlets

• Editor/News Director – the most senior people; don’t approach directly

• Chief of staff/Chief Reporter/News editor/Producer – more contactable, depends on medium and size

• Reporter/Journalist – those doing the actual writing; can be contacted directly especially if you have a relationship

• Build up your list of contacts with correct, up-to-date details• Be familiar with deadlines

Media Ethics

• Ethics is about right and wrong; and duty (to whom?)• When employing your media skills, you need to understand

journalists’ ethical codes• These codes commit news workers to principles such as

truth, freedom of information, attribution, objectivity, accuracy, fairness and balance, protection of sources, etc.

• In practical terms, decisions about the provision of “freebies” will be common

PR Ethics

• Both PR and journalism are governed by ethical codes• A media relations /PR practitioner has five ethical duties, to:

self, client, employer, profession, society• Core values of journalists and PR overlap considerably, and

comprise: accountability, responsibility, serving the public, fairness, honesty, and confidentiality

• “Never lie to media” is good rule of thumb for PR practitioners and news sources

Two Ethical Camps

The relationship between media skills practitioners and journalists can be:• Closed – media seen as an annoyance or “the enemy”;

strongest ethical duty to client, tension with journalists• Open – media regarded as “partners”, media access is

facilitated, ethical commitment to “boundary spanning”, helping democracy

• (Or more often, it is a sliding scale)• Both parties need to consider the ethical implications of their

interactions