During my internship I had to do the media liaisons and update the media lists. To be honest, I consider the latter to be an annoying task that everyone wants to delegate to the others, and as an intern, the task was attributed to me. Despite being "annoying" and time consuming I think that we should see its positive aspect; it is a good opportunity to be known and know more about the different media and what each of them is doing. Maintaining good relationship with them is vital since they act as intermediary between the company and the public , and they themselves are perceived as a public which has to be satisfied and treated with respect although they, sometimes, don't transmit the message we wanted it to transmit properly or in the way intended to achieve the right result.
I worked on an event for the IBL company which was the release of DVD on Children's Rights. The weeks preceding the event, the public which require our attention is the media. I had to first of all review the media contact list and verify the names, job titles and their area of interest to better know which media would be targeted for this specific event. We wanted to target the radio and the press mainly for this event since these are read and heard on a daily basis by parents and women who care for the children's rights. I must admit that we were in a rush since we were short of staff as the PR coordinator has just resigned. Therefore, I had to gain the trust of the media and this is difficult when they have to deal with a new person , a new form of relationship has to be built. This is where we realise the importance of the company's reputation and its already established relationship with it.
The media is an important communication tool which is at times underestimated but this should never be the case as it is in time of crisis that the company use it as a driving force. The role of the media is to pass information towards the general public but the main issue is that the media sometimes shape information in a way that they think will be of greater interest for the public. They also tend to be biased or influenced in a way or another. It is hence important to maintain a good relationship with them to ensure their loyalty and have a positive coverage, even when the company is in time of crisis to maintain a good reputation towards its various publics.
3 comments:
Hey
I agree totally with what you say. The media are every important to a business, without the media it can be very difficult to get your message out. Updating media contact lists is pretty boring but I to can see the importance of doing it, if you keep in contact with journalists and keep up a good repore it makes it a lot easier when you want them do write something/braodcast something for you.
Yeah and I also think that to lighten the task, the company could have an agreement with their media contacts. The journalists could collaborate and have a share in the responsibilities by updating their lists when there are new comers, employees who have left the company and so on and send it to the company on a monthly basis.
However, it is also true that it is the company that needs the media and not vice versa. Therefore, the main effort should come from the company. What do you think?
Hi Martin
I completely agree with what you said, media play a very crucial role in the reputation of each and every organization. Infact, media is the nucleus of many organization so it must be treated with such a warm treatment. Indeed like King said, without media there is no way the capability and the credibility of your organization can the all known to people. So as a PR practitioner you act as an intermediary between an organization and media so keeping up with the journalist become a crucial role that you have to play tactfully.
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