You can't be in PR today and ignore the facts

 

Fact one: hard copy publications are online, or have moved exclusively online

Fact two: media companies are consolidating

Fact three: new media is here to stay and is quickly becoming a leading outlet for telling your story

Public Relations vs Media Relations

Although used interchangeably, there are key differences between public relations and media relations.

Media relations is an organic activity that involves working with media to maximize earned media coverage as opposed to paying for advertising.

Alternatively, public relations involves the set of activities that manages how a brand or company communicates with, builds awareness of, and shapes perception among the public. Public relations often includes media relations.

While similar in the activities executed, both media relations and public relations have two different set of audiences. 

In media relations, the goal is to develop and nurture relationships with media outlets that could potentially cover news and media related to your story. With public relations, it’s about the audience and the perception that is created among them.

The public relations practitioner's work consists of the following:

Consulting
When an organization's internal or external relationships are affected, public relations practitioners must be able to advise directorates and management on a broad spectrum of concerns.

Community involvement
A practical and effective way an organization can demonstrate its good citizenship on suburban, governmental and national level, is to support it financially and get involved in the activities of the community.

Employee communication
A climate of trust and understanding between workers and management is of utmost importance in good public relations of any organization. The public relations practitioners can initiate internal newsletters to contribute to policy reviewing matters such as personnel administration, recruiting, training, etc.

Industry affairs
Public relations advisers can help to improve an organization's interests by taking part in the activities of the industry to which they belong.

Media liaison
Most organizations have information in which the written media, radio or television would be interested.

Corporate advertising
An organization can use advertisements to tell the public what their attitude is towards important affairs.

Videos
Many organizations produce videos about themselves and their activities.

Speeches
By providing speakers for influential groups, an organization can often accomplish direct and continued contacts with key-persons in the community.

Organizing of special events
This includes functions like displays, exhibitions, seminars, lecture tours, conventions and promotions such as sponsored golf tournaments.

Crisis communication
Any organization can be struck by disasters such as fire, explosions, industrial strikes or plane crashes. This can make or break an organization's reputation, image and continued survival. Crisis communication is therefore critically important.

Public Relations Glossary


Community Relations:

Enhancing your organization's participation and position within a community through outreach efforts for the mutual benefit of the organization and the community. See Public Affairs below.

Crisis Management:

Maintaining relations with the public, government agencies, news media, employees, shareholders, and other affected parties on behalf of an organization involved in a crisis situation.

Employee Relations:

Typically representing an organization's management to inform and motivate the organization's employees through internal communications, training, awards programs, and other events. 

Government Affairs:

Representing an organization's interests to governing bodies and regulatory agencies, often through direct "lobbying" efforts, and also through public affairs and other PR activities building issue constituencies.

Internal Communications:

Serves as a conduit for information flow between management and the ranks. Grounded in communication theory, IC taps tools of newsletters, Intranet pages, management memos, position statements, presentations and special events to disseminate information regarding company updates, management policies, Human Resources issues & benefits, business initiatives, crisis management, etc. 

Investor Relations:

Developing confidence and positive relations for your organization with investors in the financial community. Also called Financial Relations and Shareholder Relations.

Journalism vs. Public Relations Writing, Ethics

Journalism vs. Public Relations Writing, Ethics

The more I experience public relations, the more I see both similarities and differences with journalism. The symbiosis that exists between the two professions, that being between reporters and practitioners, increases daily. With newsroom cuts and the increasing need for convergence journalism, reporters have to double, maybe even triple, their output from years gone by. The time to research and do in-depth, enterprising reporting unfortunately isn't granted to many journalists anymore. So, reporters turn to PR practitioners for story pitches, news releases, packaged quotes and quick answers to their questions.

I can say in my journalism experience, I appreciate a good media relations professional who returns my calls or e-mails promptly. That is the source I will go back to again, if I can, for another story because, especially as a freelancer, the more stories I can get done in a shorter amount of time, the more money I make. This isn't to say I scrimp on the details or do sloppy reporting just to get a story finished. But if I trust two sources equally to give me fair and accurate information, say a geology professor from Virginia Tech and one from the University of Virginia, I'm going to quote the expert who gets back to me most quickly with the best quotes (by best, I mean easiest to understand, vivid, etc.). This same concept is applicable to PR flacks. However, as journalists, we have to be careful that we don't just let practitioners feed us one story after another without finding out anything about possible opposing angles. This is where the difference in writing style comes into play. Generally, the most controversial issue will be the lede* for the story in journalism. If it involves taxpayer money, community involvement or some other hot-button issue, that will be the focus. Often, reporters will not reproduce the source material directly without some follow-up questions. However, sometimes, this will be the case for trusted sources (such as a university news release reprinted in the school newspaper).

What are some other differences in the writing styles? I'd love to hear comments from people who are students of either discipline or have worked in them. To me, it seems as though the two are becoming increasingly similar. In fact, in my limited work in PR, my writing has been almost identical to the writing I've done in journalism. Again, the main difference here is in the main focus of the story and the lack of controversial angles. Let's say a big-box store is going to come into a small town, and the company is one of the PR firm's clients. The news release might focus on the economic benefits and the involvement of community input. The newspaper story, though, may focus on the townspeople's opposition to the project, zoning issues, etc. Of course, a fair news story would cover both sides, but the first paragraph would likely involve the more-controversial, "newsworthy" part of the story. The fact is, news releases and such that look more like news stories and provide quotes and good contact information are more likely to get covered — even word-for-word reproduced in some cases.

Other than the focus of the story — one story in favor of the client who is paying the practitioner to write it, and one more in favor of the people over whom the press is supposed to be watching out for — I do not see a lot of differences in PR writing and journalistic writing lately. If I had to pick out one other thing, I think it would be the storytelling style. In journalism, narrative storytelling usually takes place, but when writing for PR, even a news release, it seems as though you are concisely telling the people just the facts. Yes, PR writing is even more concise than journalistic writing because you have to remember a reporter/editor is on deadline and often in a hurry. Plus, if you have easy-to-access info, especially in the form of a bulleted fact sheet, accompanied by contact info, the journalist can grab most of what he or she needs and build around that info with quotes and additional research as needed.

There has been some recent controversy surrounding the reputation of the public relations business in recent weeks, but most of it just seems ironically to be a case of bad PR for PR. I feel like myself and other practitioners are honest and ethical, and our messages just work from the aspect of how we frame them. Framing issues in the favor of our clients is not lying, though we may not expose the whole truth. So what about those who have done PR for big tobacco and such? This is a tricky line to cross because deceptive advertising comes into play here also. Not all PR firms have an advertising counterpart, but many do. Where do you think we as practitioners have to draw the line? Where, as journalists, do we have to draw the line in using flacks as sources?

More so than act like I have the answers to these questions, I'd like to open up the floor for discussion. Feel free to comment on this post; I'd love to hear what everyone has to say. All I know for sure right now is that both journalism and public relations are honorable professions with rich histories, and they are both fun to be part of. As a freelancer/intern, I've had a unique opportunity not only to cross over to PR from journalism as many have done in recent years, but also to experience both professions at the same time. Of course, covering PR clients for my news stories is a no-no, but there is always an ethical dilemma I think any journalist who crosses over experiences at some point. Has anyone out there dealt with this issue as well?

Expect future posts on this topic, especially if I get enough feedback from your comments to blog about.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IPRM??

HISTORY

The Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM), set up in 1962 does not belong to any individual professional Public Relations practitioner but rather to all those in its portal who desire the systematic, organized growth and development of Public Relations as a profession which can contribute positively to the nation’s continuous growth and development in all spheres of human endeavors.

 

Dato' Mohd Sopiee Sheikh Ibrahim

THE BIRTH OF IPRM

On 25^th March 1965 Founding Members of the Institute adopted the Constitution at a meeting held in the Federal Department of Information premises in Mountbatten Road (now Jalan Tun Perak) of Kuala Lumpur. The first president elected was the then Director General Information, Dato’ Mohd Sophiee Sheikh Ibrahim and most of the charter members of the Institute were Information Officers from either the Federal or the Selangor State levels.

OBJECTIVES

The overriding objective of IPRM is to enhance professionalism among public relations practitioners in Malaysia. To meet this main objective, IPRM organizes various seminars and trainings for members and non-members. It also supports research and other educational activities in public relations.

The specific objectives of the Institute are:

·     To advise, provide information and create opportunities for discussions on all aspects of public relations activities.

·     To promote the understanding, development and recognition of public relations.

·     To establish and prescribe standards of professional and ethical conduct and ensure the observance of those standards.

·     To encourage the attainment of professional academic qualification.

·     To nurture, promote and maintain contacts with public relations practitioners.

IPRM TODAY

The Institute has clocked 46 years of history and has been involved in aspirations of nation building. IPRM also has played a significant role in the training and development of more than 5,000 Malaysian in preparing and qualifying them for a career in public relations. The Institute stepped up its training and development of public relations practitioners both from the public and private sectors.

Why PR ? How good public relations can benefit your business

Britain's industrial leaders are regularly asked what are the most important factors they take into account when making judgements on companies. In poll after poll, they rate reputation as a company's most valuable asset - in fact, they rate it considerably higher than they do a company's financial performance.With a crucial responsibility for both the organisations identity and its reputation, today's public relations function can be the key agent of change. 

This might include a critical role in achieving real competitive advantage by reducing barriers to competition, opening new markets, attracting the best recruits and business partners, enhancing access to funding and investors, creating a premium value for products and services and protecting business in times of crisis.

All organizations big or small, local or international, private or public can benefit from good public relations.