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How Do You View Your Relationship With the News Media?
By Eric Seidel
I doubt there is anything really new under the sun when it comes to the relationship between public relations professionals and news media representatives. Reporters and PR people have been clashing and cooperating for decades. Yet, with all this experience the relationship remains a troublesome one for many professionals on both sides of the news story.
Reporters frequently view PR people with about as much enthusiasm as a driver encountering a house–size boulder in the middle of a mountain road. From the PR perspective, you and other managers in your organization may regard us as the business equivalent of an incoming guided missile. These impressions aren’t universal, of course, but they still exist, and they are still strong enough to have a significant impact on much of today’s business reporting.
As a reporter and the manager of several broadcast news operations over the years, I’ve clashed and cooperated with public relations people from a wide variety of organizations, public and private, corporations and associations. If there is one thing I've learned from the experience, it’s this: You will be successful with the news media only to the extent that you build personal and lasting relationships with its members.
As an association public relations professional, if your goal with the news media is simply to get good coverage and limit negative coverage then it’s probably time to expand that view. Here are a few guidelines that might be helpful.
Don’t wait for reporters to come to you, especially if you anticipate negative coverage.
I was always impressed with the PR people who made a point of seeking me out, introducing themselves and showing an interest in my newsroom and staff. Once established, the relationship would grow even stronger as I encountered my new contacts at social/professional events. So, instead of waiting for the call from a reporter, go ahead and make contact with the news media. Take the first step, and you will help shape the coverage of your organization rather than being shaped by it.
Succinct: No words are wasted; uses the language with precision
This is about syntax, having a way with words. Some naturally are better at it than others.
Understand your PR function as liaison between your organization and the news media.
Being caught in the middle comes with the territory, so get comfortable with it. Sometimes you have to be a mediator, and sometimes an educator, and often you have to be both. You have to be an advocate for your organization to the news media. And you have to be an advocate for the news media to your organization.
Accept that the relationship will be rocky at times.
No single news story will define your association’s total public image. Even if you have a good strong relationship with a reporter, sometimes your goals will conflict. That doesn’t have to spell an end to the relationship. It may mean that any given story won’t come out as you prefer, but it doesn’t have to mean that all stories in the future will be biased against you. As an example from another profession, lawyers often battle one another fiercely, yet they remain on good terms outside the courtroom. Remember that there is always tomorrow and always another story. Each one is an opportunity to build or solidify your relationships with the news media.
Get what you want out of the relationship by better understanding and delivering what the reporter wants out of the relationship.
My background is with broadcast news. While station manager for Atlanta’s news radio WGST we were always looking for contacts who understood our medium. One spokesman from the Atlanta Fire Department was the first to carry a cell phone. When he talked to us from the scene of a fire he added a sense of drama to his contacts with us. Your experience as an association PR representative may not be as dramatic, but the principle is the same. Go beyond simply knowing the names, titles and deadlines of your media contacts. Build your understanding of what they need to be successful in their medium.
There is no such thing as a "last–minute" relationship with anyone in the news media.
If you wait until you have a crisis or an event that needs publicity, you can’t count on the news media to share your sense of urgency. All too often with associations, PR people seemed to assume that we knew the background of their organization. Maybe it was shyness or inexperience in dealing with the news media, but they often were available only when they wanted something rather than when we called on them. On the other hand, some of the sharpest PR practitioners I’ve encountered were with universities and colleges such as Emory and Georgia State University. They published booklets listing their contacts, specialty areas and fields of expertise. That meant not only that we could count on them for background information or a quote, but that we could actually reach them when we needed them. It was helpful for us, but it also meant they got good publicity.
Counsel others in your association to adopt reasonable expectations about reporters and the news media.
As the PR professional in your organization, you are expected to understand the news media. But how successful are you at getting others in your organization especially senior managers and executives to understand the realities of dealing with the news media? For example, do managers in your organization overreact to minor errors in news stories? Do they expect to have a reporter’s questions fed to them before an interview? Do they expect the right to review or even approve a story before it is published or broadcast? Surprising as it may seem, there are still managers in many modern organizations that hold such unreasonable expectations about the news media. You’ll improve your relationship with the news media when you help others in your own organization understand the realities.
Help your organization begin to take responsibility for what shows up in the news media about it.
When there is bad news or even bad reporting about your association is it automatically the reporter’s fault? Or the editor? Or the headline writer? Maybe it is their fault. But what could you or others in your organization have done to prevent the mistake from happening in the first place. This is an interesting phenomenon. When the members of an organization blame the news media for bad reporting, the bad reporting tends to continue. But when that organization stops faulting the news media and gets determined to communicate accurately with its publics through the media, the reporting usually improves, sometimes dramatically. Try it. What have you got to lose?
In short, what is your model for the relationship between your association and the news media? Do you see it as a series of unrelated skirmishes in which you either win or lose? Or do you see it as an ongoing relationship in which both sides get something of real benefit? The difference can be astounding!
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Eric Seidel is a partner in TMT/The Media Trainers®, LLC, an Atlanta–based firm that provides training in news media interview skills and crisis communication. You can contact The Media Trainers® at 770–971–6619.
