PR and Journalism
Университет
Российской Академии Образования
Нижегородский
филиал
Факультет экономики
и бизнеса
Реферат
Тема: «PR and Journalism»
выполнила студентка III курса
факультета экономики и
бизнеса
специальность: связи с
общественностью
Кришталь И.А
проверил: к.п.н., доцент Паршина Н.А
Н.Новгород
2009
Contents
Introduction
Theoretical Starting Points
Media and PR in Society
The Editorial Conditions
PR Agents' and Journalists' Perceptions of Each Other
Conclusion
Introduction
In many countries, the PR industry has undergone significant
growth in recent decades. In Sweden today, the number of active communications
experts is seven times that at the beginning of the 1990s. Through this
significant growth, PR agents have established themselves as an important group
alongside parties traditionally considered being part of the democratic
process.
Public relations have become a significant and powerful
industry, particularly in recent decades. This industry and its actors mainly
work through the media to spread information, persuasion and opinions to the
public on behalf of their clients. Publicity is the predominant goal.
Networking, relation-building, news production and activities intended to be
published in the media are thus part of the everyday work of PR agents such as
information officers and PR consultants. The PR phenomenon needs to be examined
and scrutinized as a new party and power in the democratic process. In recent
years, some international studies have taken on this mission, but there is
scope for more studies on different aspects of the phenomenon.
In this work we are focused on the relation between the PR
industry and the news media.
The main themes and questions are: What characterizes the
relation between the PR industry and the media or between PR agents and
journalists? The work starts by outlining some of the pertinent circumstances
concerning the relation between the parties as well as their view of each
other.
Theoretical Starting Points
The news media are the most outstanding, common, and
important channel for interest groups to get their messages out and influence
their surroundings. A focus on media has, in fact, grown in importance to these
agents, especially concerning those active on the scene of policy shaping in
the broader sense. The media work has become a more central part of political
activity in recent years.
Studies of the relation between the PR industry and the news
media show that PR actors and journalists often establish close relations in
order to fulfill a mutual need.
The influence of the PR industry appears in many different
shapes in daily life. It involves anything from traditional press conferences
and press releases to various more or less successful long-term
agenda-setting-related activities. Among other things, strategies for
controlling the news agenda are based on producing and serving the media with
material that promotes the instrumental purposes of the senders' interests.
This type of media influence and strategies for controlling the news agenda are
today often referred to by the concept news
management. Meanwhile,
news material from sources outside the media may also be seen as a contribution
to journalistic work and as a way of cutting costs. Observations in line with
this point of view have made way for the theory of information subsidy, meaning
efforts by policy actors to increase the consumption of persuasive messages by
reducing their costs. A reasonably large proportion of published articles originate
from external sources - in fact, more than half of the studied published
articles stem from material originating from outside sources.
There is reason to argue that, in recent times, the theory of
information subsidy has increased its relevance to the everyday journalism
reality as a consequence of the financial and personnel cutbacks many news
organizations have undergone. Some analysts claim that this type of contact and
exchange has forced journalism to become increasingly dependent on, and more
easily affected by, outside influences - a transformation of professional
conduct that has resulted in a more alienated journalism. According to Davis
(2002), the cutbacks are one explanation of the fact that PR practitioners have
come to strongly influence today's news agenda. He argues that the material
they present has become extremely successful in passing itself off as 'real
news', and thereby, to a great extent, PR people have "worked to erode the
autonomy of journalists at the micro level". Other researchers follow this
line:
What passes for news of politics is often an inextricable
mixture of messages from different sources. Advertising, public relations,
reports of opinion polls, and propaganda become mixed up in the news product
along with facts and editorial opinions. It certainly tends to undermine any
simple faith in the reliability and independence of news.
Media and PR in Society
The news media are the most prominent instrument for
disseminating information in society. The media have become an increasingly
important stage for organizations' external communication. Editor of a business
magazine:
«Today, the media are the most important marketplace - all
important deals are settled in the media sphere /.../. And as everyone is
squeezed together on the same media scene, it becomes very loud, very crowded
and very short of oxygen. That's where the PR business comes in» (Editor,
business magazine).
The media, however, do not constitute a platform with actors
of equal importance to PR practitioners. Rather, the media sphere appears as a
media hierarchy. Typically, the largest radio and television stations along
with the large national newspapers constitute the most important targets for PR
activities. Within television, news programmes are especially sought after,
followed by talk shows and entertainment programmes. For PR activities directed
at the print media, the editorial and debate pages of the daily morning
newspapers are essential targets. When it comes to activities such as product
promotions and launches, trade magazines and other types of specialized press
increase in ranking and become a high priority. For opinion-generating
campaigns, regional and local media are also of interest. However, the latter
types of media organizations pick up PR-related information mostly through news
agencies, and thus their journalists experience little direct connection with
PR agents.
The features of the relationship between PR agents and news
journalists vary with the type of organization or consultancy they represent.
Journalists often claim a skeptical approach to those representing commercial
interests, as journalistic norms have long deemed textual product placement
despicable. Representation in the interest of political organizations, on the
other hand, sets a different tone because of these organizations' position as
being fundamental to a democratic society and therefore considered to be
legitimate opinion leaders. Their actions thus become "in the interest of
the public". Public authorities are also by their nature obvious targets
of media observation.
Between the corporate interest groups and the political groupings
stands a middle-category - the non-profit organizations. Non-profit
organizations with a clear social ideology are often treated much like a party
or public authority by the media. Furthermore, representatives of non-social
ideology groupings often aim for publicity by trying to pass off their
PR-activities as relevant to policy or community matters, regardless of whether
this is actually the case. In other words, they attempt to move the
characterization of a specific organization and its activities from the
commercial sphere up to the societal/political one. However, one can say that
the media's perceived understanding of the potential social impact of the
organizations the PR-agents represent largely determines the conditions for the
relation.
The Editorial Conditions
The impact potential of the news media is of course a crucial
factor in why journalists are a prioritized target of actions taken by the PR
industry. However, there are at least two additional reasons for why media
publicity is considered the best way to reach the public - and thereby to
achieve a desired image and swing public opinion or parts of it in a favorable
direction.
First, publication in the media has a higher level of
credibility than other communication channels do. Second, compared to advertising,
media publicity is a cost-effective method.
The everyday work of a journalist is very stressful /So/ they
often consider contacts with PR agents as useful, if we practice serious work
conduct and do no gold digging. Because we know exactly what journalists want
(PR Consultant).
The information flow directed towards the editorial staff has
thus allegedly increased, partly as a result of a much more flexible attitude
towards promotion-related activities from the communications sector.
Today the news desks experience an in-flow of information
never seen before, especially from the corporate sector. The input is
overwhelming - if previously it was a stream, it's now more like a river. Handling
this flood of information is problematic, and there is a risk that journalists
will get caught up in it and thereby decrease their ability to control the news
agenda.
This raises questions of whether the media may become
dependent on this subsidy of information and material. Some journalists
reflecting over their own work situation suggested there is a risk that
reporters will become dependent on the influence of different activist experts.
Even journalists with special beats sometimes experience a lack of knowledge,
especially those within technical, medical and natural-science-related subject
areas: "While we become too specialized we also become too
dependent", said one public service TV journalist.
PR people call both openly and under cover to try to sell an
idea to us. It's presented in a very feasible way and then we're under extreme
pressure to put together a paper for the next day. They know our work situation
and they know exactly what things to pull.
By serving the media with news material, the activities of PR
actors have caused their industry to move towards taking on the shape of a news
desk located outside the media.
PR Agents' and Journalists' Perceptions of Each Other
The PR experts' and journalists' views of each other differ a
great deal. It seems that, in principle, many representatives of the PR
industry have great respect for journalism and the media's role in society.
They underline the media's obligation to review the PR sphere just as they
expect journalists to do with other social phenomena. At the same time, some of
the PR actors in reality showed less respect for the media's professional task,
as attempts to manipulate or steer the media in a favorable way seemed
acceptable. Even among those who claimed a profound respect for the media,
instrumental aims became discernible.
Hardly any of the journalists expressed a corresponding
respect for the PR agents. In principle, PR experts, especially consultants,
were described as opponents, in line with the general normative thinking of
journalism, which supports the view that PR people are to be kept at a
distance. They are "my most important opponents," claimed one
journalist of a national newspaper and continued by saying that the group has
become so "unbelievably much more clever with what they do". As PR
agents inevitably exist in the media professionals' work context, journalists
are forced to respect them in the same matter as one has to respects an opponent:
I dislike the phenomenon /PR consultants/ terribly. But I do
realize that 'this is the way it is' and what am I to do? They're a part of
today's society. And an influential part too (Editor, evening newspaper).
Journalists' mainly skeptical approach to PR is familiar to
those working in the PR sphere. It is mirrored in the strategies of the latter
- how to present material as well as how to present themselves in order to
establish contact - and perhaps also in their professional self-image. Some of
the consultants pointed to the fact that they are always straightforward in
their contacts with the media and always explain whom or what interests they
represent.
In their comments on PR agents, a journalists tended to group
information officers and consultants. The journalistic approach seems to be
that there is actually no need for any PR agents. Meanwhile, in reality, the
relation in itself may function differently depending on whether a PR person is
placed inside or outside an organization - the latter case often making it more
restrained. Still, some journalists claimed to make use of consultants in terms
of information overviews and ideas for suitable sources. In addition, while
they also fill a censoring role, information officers admittedly seem to be
useful in negotiating contacts higher up in the organizations. Journalists,
however, often find these officers annoying, as they want to speak with the
person in charge; they do not to wish to get the answers "filtered through
representatives one has to go by".
In this specific matter, journalists and PR consultants
actually seem to agree. The latter claimed they should never be the voice of
the organization they represent. Rather, their work is to organize the contact
set up. It is always the client who should talk to the journalists, and
"it would be absurd to have a consultant between the journalist and the
corporation". Yet many journalists claimed that they are constantly
subject to information flows controlled by PR consultants. The discrepancy in
the perception of the situation is likely to be a result of opposing relational
perspectives on who controls the terms for the contact and in whose interest it
is taken.
Journalists' mainly skeptical and negative approach to PR
experts was accompanied by an attitude of rejection towards them when
discussions during the interview sessions lead to the topic of what the
relationship is actually like in reality. When the PR agents, on the other
hand, voiced their opinion about the same reality, it was largely through opposite
understandings of good and well-working relationships, common interests and
sometimes collaboration.
Conclusion
The news media are the main channel for disseminating
information and controlling public opinion in favour of a particular group's
interests. Accordingly, obtaining media publicity is an important aim of the PR
industry. This fact leads to the almost trivial assumption that there is a connection
between those who aim to influence the media and those who work in the news
business.
The contacts between PR agents and journalists are extensive,
in the sense that they are frequent, and mainly initiated by the former. Thus,
journalists are constantly the designated targets of PR activities. According
to both parties, personal relationships generally appear to be rare.
The views of the two parties are divided. PR agents commonly
declare a high level of respect for the norms of journalistic conduct and for
the media's role in a democratic society. They also view their relation with
the media as well functioning. The journalists, on the other hand, generally
express less respect for people working with PR and claim they do not have any
established relations with them, even if they admit to often being approached
by PR agents.
Furthermore their views on the outcome of this relation
differ significantly. PR actors claim that they often succeed in their efforts
to get publicity out of the news material produced. But, as they declare, there
is no attempt to influence journalism; they just "deliver news
ideas". Editors and journalists, on the other hand, agree that they
frequently receive promotional materials from different organizations or consultants,
but more or less resolutely state that they hardly ever consider using that
type of material. In other words, the flow of PR material is no great problem
in their eyes, as they are usually able to unmask the instrumental ends. In
other words, the gatekeeper function works.
The PR actors' high level of respect for journalism, its role
in society and its integrity should be contrasted to PR work practises that
inevitably aim at providing publicity for a particular version of reality.
Meanwhile, journalists' generally sceptical attitude towards PR activities
should be measured against reality: the media clearly publish news stemming
from PR material. PR sphere is highly successful in achieving its aims, that
is, the media do in fact publish material originating from this sphere to a
quite great extent. Even if the contacts are said to be mostly one-sided - and
mainly initiated by the PR sphere - they might well, in reality, constitute a
two-way process. Through networking activities, the PR agents create awareness
among journalists about their existence, which in turn increases their chances
of being contacted by reporters in search of information. Thus, the PR industry
always has suitable informative material ready for delivery. Some of the
journalists interviewed in the present study stated that PR agents facilitate
the journalistic task in this way.
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