PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE

2014 Week 7

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DR KANE HOPKINS

Communication via mass mediaMass media defined: Mass media are technological channels of distribution of messages by organisations with the purpose of creating and maintaining audiences.

W. James Potter (2009)

Mass media in New Zealand• Limited range of media owners • Few newsrooms and they continue to shrink • Mostly liberal • Community newspapers play a large roll in

community news • Many ethnic focused media

The New Zealand Media Ownership Report 2011• New Zealand’s public media space is shrinking as

commercial imperatives prevail • News stories are informed by fewer sources meaning

that fewer voices are heard • ...there are fewer mainstream content providers and

less choice for consumer-citizens • An emerging hyperlocal news sites may encourage

alternative public spheres of communication • For the corporate players ... a fertile ground for sales

and advertising

TV

What the hell is wrong with us?

Most popular online news topics 1. Weather 2. National events 3. Health/medicine 4. Business/finance 5. Science/technology 6. Developments in their own state

Five major media trends1. Thirty of the largest digital-only news organisations

account for about 3,000 jobs and one area of investment is global coverage

2. The impact of new money flowing into the industry may be more about fostering new ways of reporting and reaching audience than about building a new, sustainable revenue structure

3. Social and mobile developments are doing more than bringing consumers into the process – they are also changing the dynamics of the process itself

News on social media

News topics on Facebook

Five major media trends4. New ways of storytelling bring both promise and

challenge 5. Local television, which reaches about nine in ten

U.S. adults, experienced massive change in 2013, change that stayed under the radar of most

Communicating with the media• Media releases • Media advisories • Fact sheets • Media kits • Media conferences • YouTube • Interviews

91%

Media relations• 54.8% follow and friend corporate communications or

PR pros on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook • 55.8% say social media is an acceptable channel of

communication with sources and their representatives • 50% say irrelevant pitches via social media are a main

frustration • 26.5% say mass pitches via social media are a

frustration • 6.4% say PR pros ghost-tweeting for clients via social

media is a frustration

Pitching story ideas to media• 70.6% of respondents prefer to be “pitched” by

email • Only a surprising 1.4% of respondents prefer to

field story ideas via commercial newswires (such as PR Newswire, Business Wire, Marketwire, etc.)

• Just 0.7% prefer to field story ideas via email alerts sent from corporate newsrooms

Major reasons media releases fail• They are not news • They fail to meet deadlines • They are too long • They are full of hyperbole • They contain errors • There are no contact details for the follow-up

questions • Practitioners ring journalists to pressure them to

run the story

PR & news values • Timeliness

– your information must be new or current, e.g. new report released,

– Appropriate time, e.g. autumn is the time for flu shots

• Relevance – How does your information affect people’s lives,

income, health, relationships and entertainment choices

– The ‘who care’ test

PR & news values • Proximity

– Using the local angle – Can the information be localised to a particular

community? • Prominence

– Can you relate your information to a well-know person?

• Significance – Does your information affect a significant number

of people?

PR & news values • Trendiness

– media often responds to the latest fashion trends, popular entertainment or food craze and it may be possible to link your organisation’s news with these

• Negativity – good news doesn’t make for good news

Google says, yes. Yes you should.

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