When filling out the intern update form I was struggling to think of a task that I really don’t enjoy and then I got it…media lists. Such a tedious task, yet necessary and vital to a media relations role.
As part of my internship at Scitech, I am required to regularly update the media book, which is in a Word Excel document and consists of metro and regional print, radio and television outlets.
The most important information that is used frequently is the name of the organisation, the office address, postal address, first point of contact, staff names (specifically the Chief of Staff, Manager and journalists) and contact numbers. So all these components of information need to be found easily through the internet, media guides, or other sources.
Scitech currently subscribes to 'Margaret Gee's Australian Media Guide', a quarterly publication consisting of contact and general information for a wide range of media outlets from all across Australia. I had heard about this publication during previous PR units and had always thought that it was the best source…until now.
Even though it is probably the best available, it still has some flaws, which to someone having to use it every day, become very evident…
- The Media Guide is not free.
- As a quarterly publication it does not give the most up-to-date information. Office location, postal address and first point of contact usually stay the same over time but journalists and staff are continuously changing, and it is important for PR practitioners to be aware of these changes.
For example, just last week I had an altercation with out-of-date information. There are two newspapers in the X region, the ‘Y News’ and ‘Z Echo’ (sorry for the vagueness!), and recently a reporter contacted me asking for pictures for an exclusive story. We had it this journo’s name under ‘Y News’ in our media book and therefore sent the pictures to her email address at that outlet. The next day she contacted me expressing that she had not yet received the pictures and when I asked her to again confirm her media outlet, I realised that she had switched outlets to ‘Z Echo’ – an update that had not yet made it on to the Margaret Gee Media Guide. So not only did we (most likely) annoy the journo by not sending the requested information asap but we practically gave their direct competition their exclusive story on a platter…not good!
As well as being available in print format, Margaret Gee’s Media Guide is also accessible on a website however, this contact information is also not updated regularly on a bi-weekly or monthly basis.
So I guess the point I’m trying to make is, couldn’t there be a better way of storing media information and making it accessible to the public?
Charlotte
Bentley Campus
3 comments:
you really have a valid point i agree that there should be an easier way to find this information, but i just have one question that need clarification, in you article you said the reporter (media outlet) contacted you asking for pictures for and exclusive story, i thing that the best way to avoid sending it to someone else is by using the same medium they used to contact you, that way you are sure who it is you are sending info.
another point is i don't think these informations change often but when they do it is always better if you have good media relation, so if they move at least you will be contacted and updated.
so concluding i can just say it better to get these info from the media outlet them selves instead of a third party
I agree with you! One of my most frustrating jobs during my placement was media lists. There has to be another way to make sure we have covered all media outlets then manually filling them in?!
Though I do agree with Guilain. The best way to make sure that you cover as many bases as possible is to have media contacts as well as media outlets. There were many times when I couldnt find the outlet however when I searched the media contact, I found them!
Hi Guilain and Daniella, thanks for your comments
Good relationships with media definitely help keep track of who goes where but some organisations are state or national wide and therefore have a huge amount of journalists in their contacts book.
Scitech deals with a very large number of media outlets (from print, tv and radio) all across wa and whilst we are able to maintain relationships with local media it is harder with those further away and that we may only deal with once a year (when Scitech is touring in a particular region).
So I do agree with you about focusing on improving relationships with journalists, however this activity would be extremely time consuming for some organisations.
And just to clarify for Guilain, the journalist contacted me via telephone which meant I had to check our media book. Emails definitely have their benefits when dealing with these requests :)
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