PR VS JOURNALISM

Finally my time had come to start my placement at PPR (Professional Public Relations) and what an exciting, busy, stressful week it has been!!


Two weeks prior I was interning at the ABC office in East Perth, little did I know that maybe my colleges, fellow students, friends and family were actually right.. PR and Journalism are very different.


My days at ABC were spent frantically rushing to locations to grab an interview with a talent or writing news stories in 15 minutes for them to be edited, subbed and published online before I had a chance to blink. Whereas my first day at PPR began with a quick brief on McHappy Day which I am part of (I will be posting more about this in the up and coming weeks), a few media contacts who I had to call and pitch a story to and an Excel sheet!


At PPR I was thrown straight in to the deep-end and I am still loving every second of it, I think the skills that I learn at the ABC to work quickly and have confidence in my work have really enabled me to feel comfortable with the work I have been producing at PPR. We all know how daunting it is when a professional in the industry comes to you and says 'Please write me a detailed media plan and can I have it by Friday (when it is already Wednesday)... Naturally I wanted to cry but at the same time this is what I have been working towards for the whole of my double degree!


I managed to complete the media plan, call the media contacts to pitch the story and now I am an expert at excel sheets and that was all in a few days... I can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store for me and see if the differences between PR and Journalism become more obvious to me.

Building rapport with journalists.. a challenging but necessary ‘evil’?

As I became more accustomed with email and phone protocol, I was tasked with making media coverage and event follow-up calls to local Malaysian media. Initially I was nervous as I thought back to PR Media 250 classes, where we were reminded time and time again about the importance of forming and nurturing relationships with the media to the benefit of your reputation as a PR professional, having your work covered, and getting in touch with the people in the know-how. So I took these calls as a good starting position to begin forming these bonds; albeit our time in Malaysia was limited, you never know when or where having these contacts could come in handy.

I was off to a bit of a rocky start; I had a huge list of media contacts from both digital and conventional media I needed to reach out to to see if they would be interested in featuring a travel article we prepared for our client Tourism Victoria. Immediately it was clear that my funny Australian accent and inability to speak Bahasa or any form of Chinese was a hindrance. Often I would be palmed off to different departments so that I could become someone else’s ‘issue’, and one call ended with an angry Chinese reporter screaming ‘Learn Chinese!’ before hanging up the phone. At this point I was really regretting taking Japanese lessons instead of Chinese.

Over time however, I came to understand the best way to address people in different media outlets, whether they preferred to have a chat first or get straight into business, and who the best person was to speak to when trying to gain coverage. Some editors even remembered who I was when I called, and their attitudes to publishing and receiving work from us thereafter increased substantially.

Though this ongoing task was often quite draining (numerous rejections, unfriendly responses etc), it was excellent practise for building these necessary relations, but also proved beneficial to myself and GO. I was able to scout new platforms in up and coming blogs through some of the journalists I spoke to, which have since been added to GO's media database as contacts for future media coverage. Coincidentally, I also met one of the journalists I had been speaking with at our Amethyst Restaurant launch. She went on to invite me to a Google Offices tour with her and we have maintained contact since! The foundations that were laid through the phone calls and conversations allowed for easy and enjoyable networking in reality.

The main points I’ve been able to draw from this relationship building with the media is:

-          Be patient. It was more often than not I was trying to get them to cover my story, than them trying to get something from me. They also receive hundreds of these calls and media releases each day, so their response (if any) will seldom be immediate.

-          Stay relevant. A follow-up call or email may be just the prompt they need. Suggest meeting with them to grab a coffee to catch-up, or if your relationship is already somewhat established, to share with them a big scoop. There’s a difference between being helpful and being pesky however, so use your judgement and generally allow a few days after your initial contact before asking for an update on their interest.

-          Become familiar with the rest of the team, not just the editor. I found I was able to reach important and more pertinent sources when I was friendly with the junior stuff and personal assistants. Their willingness to help you will skyrocket if you acknowledge their importance in the team, and they’ll more likely put you through to who you want to be reaching. 

Until next time, everyone!

Delving into the public Relations world

Hi guys! It has been such a hectic week recently. I have been impatiently waiting for the day that I would be able to share my experience with you. I finally got the opportunity to assist to an event. And I dare say that it was quite an experience. Quite different from the experiences that I have acquired throughout these two years at the news group I work for.

Let me explain: I have assisted to many events, but I never had the slight idea about what had been done behind the décor and the press conference. How many months of preparations were being engulfed in a single event…An event which by the way is not sure to have many media coverage. The question I asked myself was:  these people who organize these events do not ever get discouraged when they see that media coverage is scarce?

As a journalist, it was never my concern the amount of time that people spent on an event. I just came and jot down the most important facts. If ever the press conference did not meet my expectations, I would simply not write about it. As simple as that…Sounds mean huh? But that is how it works…And that is the reason why the Public Relations world fascinates me so much.

Getting news is very easy for news is everywhere. You just need to open your eyes to everything that surrounds you and find an interesting angle and that is it. Okay I sound pretty optimistic. Yes deadlines are stressing and getting the news before rival news group is quite difficult at times I must admit. Still, it is easy compared to PR.

On the other hand, in PR, you have to always think out of the box, innovate to outrun your opponents and think of angles that will make journalist want to write about you. That is quite demanding right? But that is exactly what I like about Public Relations. It is a challenging field which is constantly booming. You always have to think out of the box. Create, innovate and have an impact: are the three words I would choose to define PR.

Getting back to the point, I really enjoyed assisting that  event. Though, it was quite awkward at some point meeting my colleagues there and not knowing whether I should be following them or stay with the people who organized it. But anyway, the event was very interesting. And I must admit that I kind of fell under the spell of PR. Hoping you are having an amazing time as me.

Cheers,

Anne Marie Deborah Perne.
15636649

Charles Telfair Institute.

PR v/s Journalist!?

Hi all,

Hope you are doing good. I have reached half way of my journey and I was waiting for this event to be done so I could talk about it. One thing I have to agree that this internship is teaching me a lot of things and things which I had actually learnt from books and now I am actually experiencing it all.

Very often we used to come to the golden question of whether PR person needs journalists and vice-versa. While at university we have had several debates and learnt that both need each other specially nowadays since no other thing can replace the role of a journalist and Public Relations; it is only now that I have been able to witness it.

I had been to my very first press conference at Apollo Bramwell ( who is one of our clients) a few days ago. It was an awesome experience :) The press conference had been organised by our company and it was about the new ottoblock system at Apollo Bramwell. Our organisation has to finalize the venue which was at the Apollo Bramwell Conference Centre and cater for the logistics during the whole event. My role was to assist the supervisor with taking pictures and taking notes during the seminar so we could draft our Press Release. I also had to sort of confirm the names of the 'interviewees'. Needless to say many took to me to be one of the journalists.

                               Me assisting/helping  my supervisor with taking photos during the conference

                               Mr David Gray, Depute Chairman of Apollo Bramwell Hospital during his presentation

                                          Presentation on the newly set otthoblock clinic at ABH

Now coming to the main issue,some journalists had informed us that they would be late, therefore we had to wait for them. I asked myself the question, granted they are important persons but some do we need to wait for all the journalists to be present so we could proceed? ( bearing in mind some were already present) It was really intriguing. I then asked my supervisor why...

She simply asked me 2 questions : 1) who will write articles (different angles) on us if we do not wait for all of them?   2) Who will they contact if they need additional background information such as interviews or Press Release?  This got me thinking! Actually it is true, we need different articles about us. As PR persons, the more media coverage about our event, the better for us. Similarly, the more relationship building, the better will it be to both parties. And finally where will the journalists go if they need information. So this gets back to our question of who needs whom? I guess we all have the answer for that.

That having said, we can see how at times we tend to neglect things. Like me for example I thought some journalists were present, so it was still good for us. At the end of the day we come to see that journalists are those who can either take us up or down the ladder according to our behaviour towards them. They are indeed important person and they are well aware of that. We need to please them to maintain this mutually beneficial relationship.
Lesson learnt is that we both need to understand the need of each other to be able to reach mutual satisfaction!

And to be honest, all the waiting paid off because we were almost on every newspapers during that whole week :D  ( * Find some print screens below )
Thant`s all for today. Hope to hear about your experiences so far and comments are most welcomed ^_^


Karishma Rughoonundun
15636461

Stepping into the unknown

Working for almost two years for a news group, Public Relations has always been just theory for me…I do recall being thrilled and afraid at the same time when I was informed that I had been accepted for an internship in PR capacity at Logos Publicity. I was finally given an opportunity to put into practice the theory learned throughout these years. Yet, it would mean starting all over again…Being a newbie and having no experience at all in this field. Will the experience meet my expectations? How would it feel like being on the other side?

I reckon being lectured by some colleagues on how Public Relations just amount to spin doctoring. Some even told me that I would be brainwashed. It was as if I was embracing damnation and they were praying for the salvation of my soul…Pretty dramatic but that is how I felt back then. Actually, when I said that I am doing a major in journalism and Public Relations, they found this quite peculiar. They claimed that a journalist just cannot study Public Relations.  It is no secret that journalists distrust Public Relations practitioners. It is all because of that belief that journalists deliver the truth whereas PR practitioners distort it.  

Yet, amidst speculations, excitement and apprehensions, my first day at Logos was quite a mixture of emotions. “Luckily” for me, my soul was not damned. On the very first day, I was told that “communication is all about telling the truth”. Yet, “some people withhold part of the truth but, again that is another story”. Implying that for the company that would make me discover Public Relations practice, PR is not about lying to people. A piece of information that I think would relieve my colleagues.

I was showed around and I made the acquaintance of people who would now share my daily routine. At least during twenty days…Apparently, the Public Relations field would open the doors of an exhilarating universe to me. Crossing fingers! Hope you are all making the most of your internship experience. Stay tune for my second post on the first task undertaken, Cheers.

Anne Marie Deborah Perne
15636649
Charles Telfair Institute, Mauritius.