ISL451U-BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Chapter 6: Media Relations
Introduction to Media Relations
Communication is a natural part of relationships. When we refer to a relationship, especially concerning the professional life, it is an undeniable fact that there is more than one stakeholder and hence these relationships have to be successfully managed. However, there are some differences between the management of relationships and management of communication. It is possible to say that relationships entail a special dialogue, trust, care and benevolence. In a study where relationships are approached within the framework of public relations, the goal of public relations activities should be defined as creating a reciprocal interest, connection and interaction between the person or the institution that initiates the activity and the target audience.
Some of the items concerning the topic of building and sustaining relationships can be found below:
• A relationship starts to be formed when all parties recognise one another and have expectations from one another; when one or both parties need the resources that the other one has; when one or both parties perceive a threat towards themselves and finally, when a judicial or voluntary obligation arises. • Relationships are created when parties make connections in order to satisfy their needs. • Relationships are the results of the exchanges that occur while the relation is being formed. • Routinisation and the institutionalisation of behaviour might result in the increase of dependency, loss of autonomy, difficulties in achieving goals and codependency. • Relationships have unique and quantifiable characteristics. These cannot be shared by the parties and hence, a relationship is defined as something separate from the parties that create it. • The process of forming and sustaining a relationship is one that presents itself with mutual coordination and reactions that support one another (Akar, 2010).
Thus, both in regards to public relations and in the general sense of the word, relationship management could be defined as: an institution forming, developing and sustaining a mutual relationship with its target audience.
A comprehensive communication is needed to have a relationship with the target audience. This relationship is expected to be versatile and use many different channels. Due to the failures between different functional elements, a lot of problems may arise in the process of communication. It is critically important to develop mechanisms to improve the frequency and openness of communication and to resolve conflict. In this regard, the advantages of good communication and the disadvantages of bad communication is listed below: Advantages of good communication
• Everyone knows what they are supposed to do. • Everyone knows what is being done and why it is being done; in addition to knowing how much they align with the goals of the institution. • Resources are used at the right time and place. • All ideas that can increase productivity are welcome and they are being utilised. • Individuals improve their skills at a faster rate. • Problems are solved at a faster rate by using the information accumulated within the institution. • The institution is flexible and can react to changes in a short time.
The disadvantages of bad communication:
• Individuals do not have clear information about what it is they are supposed to do, which causes loss of time and resources. • Individuals misunderstand the things others say; the interpersonal relationships are negative. • Individuals do not explain their ideas and skills. The delay that occurs in skills development means coming up with solutions for problems take too long. • Individuals do not know what they do and why they do it. There is no thought given to what is being done and there is a lack of consciousness. • The employees have a low morale and the turnout is high. • The institution is not flexible and cannot react quickly to changes. This creates a negative image in the eyes of the customers, and that results in loss of revenue (Doğan and Kılıç, 2008).
It is argued that in today’s conditions communication has turned into a kind of engineering. Communication Engineering is composed of the following headings (Vural, 2019:10):
• Strategic Planning and Assessment • Leadership Communication and Planning • Investor Relations Management • International Projects Consultancy • Corporate Social Responsibility Management For each of these titles, there are separate communication practices.
It is possible to define these practices as “Applied Communication Solutions”. And these practices are composed of the following (Vural, 2019:12):
• Media Relations • Marketing Communication • Issue and Agenda Management • Crisis Communication Management • Project Sponsorship Communication • Internal Communication • Digital (Online) Communication
Media’s Changing Structural Characteristics
With the emergence of globalisation, a new area or geography of communication emerged where information was not bound by physical location. The fast transition of technology enabled media to become a source of information; making it indispensable for societies and started to deeply affect the daily lives of people. Technological advancements resulted in the birth of a new, global media industry.
Transformation of Media Relations
The tools that people and institutions use to communicate with one another have taken on a new dimension. The Internet, which is the basic instrument of the information age, sets itself apart from other communication tools with its form of usage, the advantages and disadvantages it provides. Due to its many different characteristics, the internet that contains many virtual lives, causes many transformations and brings about different approaches in a vast number of areas as an important communications tool for the public relations discipline. With the new media, the production of institutional content has changed.
Communication Environments Used in Media Relations
Media has the power to substantially affect the information that an individual receives; their attitude, conviction, emotion and behaviour. In addition to individuals; social groups, organisations, social institutions, in short, the whole society and culture is within the realm of media’s power of influence.
The Importance of Media Relations
Media relations is the most basic field of occupation for public relations. Public relations professionals use communication techniques correctly to convey the messages belonging to the institutions whose media relations that they conduct, in the most healthy and effective manner. Public relations is a “communication workmanship”. The basis of the occupation is communication. The advances in the communications technologies and globalisation, increased the number of people that the media reaches and expanded the power that it had on the aforementioned population.
Important Points to Consider in Media Relations
For successfully managed public relations, one should not forget that a strategic cooperation with the media is a must. Public relations experts should have a very good command over the strategy and communication goals of the institution that they work with. They should be aware that all kinds of information that they will be sharing with the press should serve these goals. Experts should know the press associations just as well as their own institutions. Just like in effective communication, one should know the goal and the target audience very well; public relations professionals should know the media institutions and members just as well. Media institutions are commercial
entities that work and get, create and spread information. Instead of hiring more journalists, media companies can create news more easily by using the materials that they get from institutions or public relations agencies. The financial difficulties within the last few years resulted in less journalists working in media companies and increased media’s dependency on information coming from the public relations sources. (Okay and Okay, 2009:22).
The basic principles that need to be considered when managing media relations (Çöklü, 2004:94; Özkan, 2009:129-130) can be summarised as follows:
• Accessibility • Honesty • Transparency • Fairness • Paying attention to timing • Providing content with appropriate format
What to Avoid in Media Relations
The things that should be taken into consideration, and the things that should absolutely be avoided are as follows:
• Disliking a news story • Using advertisements to make news • Discriminating between newspapers and journalist • Asking for the media upper echelon to attend the press meetings • Asking for news to be made in exchange for money • Giving journalists expensive gifts • Giving different answers according to the newspaper or the journalist • Demanding to know the source • Complaining about a journalist to their boss • Making statements without the knowledge of public relations Professional • Not leaving media relations to the Professional • Giving information on the condition that “it will not be published” • Leaking information • Media companies overlooking public relations
Media’s News Sources and the Way They Appear in the Press
Whether they are written, visual or aural, all media outlets need to prepare content to be able to do broadcasts/publishing. Media companies need certain resources in order to collect news (facts, information, documents and/or announcements) that is befitting to their editorial policies. These resources could be summarised as: Journalists, news agencies, other media outlets, public relations agencies and public relations departments of institutions.
Relations with Traditional Media
Traditional media generally appeals to anonymous users. It means that these cultural products that are created
through and put into circulation by this type of media are also consumed anonymously and the receivers are shaped by these products. The mutual interaction that is expressed by McLuhan’s words: “technologies are not just inventions used by people, but are tools that reinvent people” can be seen in this situation.
Relationships with Visual and Aural Media
The basic principles of public relations for the print press is also true for visual and aural press. We can see that news stories, advertisements, announcements, advertorials, comments etc. which are mediums in which one can appear in the media, can also be found on radios and television channels.
Relations with New Media
Nothing can escape the gravitational force created by the new communication and information technologies. Innovation became the core of all activities. The advances in technology and communication, the rise of popularity of personal computers, the advances in communications technologies that merged with the internet and the increased digitalisation of these technologies created the basis of the consequent processes, namely “information age”, “digital age”, or “information society” (Akıncı Vural, 2006: 1).
Unlike classical media, the “New Media Environment” that emerged after the internet has difficulties when it comes to controlling the flow of information to the target audience. The Internet does not have a lot of space for “control”. Hence, public relations operators will have a difficult time in this area in regards to “media relations” in the traditional understanding. Hence the situation arises where the internet, along with media relations need to be questioned again.
Media Relations and Content Prepared for the Media
A press and media relations professional represents the work of a company or organisation, acting as the point of contact for members of the press and other media representatives.
Typical responsibilities of a press and media relations professional are:
• Developing media contacts. • Building positive relationships with stakeholders, public and the media. • Answering enquiries from the press or other media representatives. • Preparing press releases and news reports about the work of an organization. • Edit and update publications (social media posts, videos, brochures etc.) and promotional material. • Preparing keynote speeches. • Monitoring media coverage and following industry trends. • Preparing media evaluation reports.
• Writing letters and invitations. • Arranging meetings and events (open days, press conferences etc.) and serve as the company’s front face. • Distributing media releases. • Attending public committee meetings as a representative of the company or organization. • Keeping up- to- date with all issues that affect the company or organization. • Informing the press and the public about events and initiatives. • Leading a team to organize media events. • Generating ideas to gain more media coverage.
Public Relations Tools
Following are some public relations tools;
• Press Release • Press Conference • Press Tour • Advertorials • Newsletters • Business Events • Telling the story: • Newspaper • Magazine • In-House Publication • Books • Film • Radio • Television • Sponsorships or Partnerships • Spokesman • Social Media
Preparing Content for the Media
While it is likely to vary from organization to organization, it’s worth thinking about the sources of content. A simple methodology that provides some structure to content production is the 3Cs: Created content, curated content and commissioned content.
Assessment and Evaluation in Media Relations
Assessment and evaluation of the efficiency of media relations is a specific area of expertise. While media analysis reports give an idea about how the institution is perceived by the media, and to a large extent, by the public, it is also seen as one of the most important data sets used in the planning of where the institution wants to be in the future and how to get there.
Social media measurement should not be an afterthought left solely to software platforms auto-generating fancy graphs and charts. Done properly it should be tailored to your organization’s objectives, with emphasis on what has changed as a result of the work. Output, outtake and outcomes. Three words that most public relations professionals should be familiar with but to which may not have given much thought.
Media Follow-Up and Reports Media Content Analysis
It is not possible to manage media relations without In public relations evaluations, content analysis is the media follow-up. Public relations departments and second most widely used method after media follow-up. agencies have to follow all news stories that appear in the Just like media follow-up companies, there are businesses media about the institutions that they work for; give who specialise in media content analysis. Media content statements or issue answers if necessary. analysis systems are getting more and more advanced every day and with the possibilities that statistics provide, Television and Radio Measurements satisfying reports can be prepared. For instance, these Network television viewers are measured by nation-wide reports can show critical information such as whether the sampling via an electronic tool named people meter that media news stories reached the target audience or not, records certain homes. whether they focused on the main topic or whether they
Audience measurement research; is composed of the contained the messages of the institution or not (Aydede, following steps: Database Research, Choosing and 2001:64).
Installing a Panel, Measuring a Panel, Analysis and Reporting. After these steps, the rating measurement takes place. Similarly, radios use a tool called audiometer for their research and the working principle is the same.
Measurements of Printed Materials
There are at least three widely used techniques to measure the readers of magazines and newspapers: For magazines “recently read” and frequency of reading: for newspapers “read yesterday” techniques (Sissors & Baron, 2008:81- 82).
Assessment and Evaluation Methods Peculiar to the Social Media
Widespread use and interaction power of social networking sites; attracted the attention of research companies. People and companies have the ability to communicate instantly and informally and this gives many a sense that they are chatting to friends, when in fact they are publishing their thoughts to the world, often with a greater impact and circulation than traditional forms of media.
Social media measurement tools are:
• Real-time following • Media, circulation and user • Positive, negative, neutral • Word based • Campaign analyses • Feedback • Updates.
In order to do all this follow-up, social media measurement programmes are used.
Advertising Value Equivalency
Another method of evaluating public relations is to calculate the advertising value equivalent of the news stories that appear in the media. Advertising value equivalency is calculated by multiplying the column/centimetres in printed press, and multiplying seconds in radio and television, with the advertisement rates. In this process, media follow-up provides quantitative data such as number of columns or seconds.