Sunday, May 8, 2011
PRACTITIONERS & THE MEDIA RELATIONSHIP
Hello again.This is my last post and its been a pleasure. Ok, so the PR department at the BNM has only two practitioners, who both took over the department in 2005. Thats how small the department is, but thats not the issue. The issue is that these practitioners do not have a relationship with the media. Yes, they can put together a campaign or write a press release but they do not submit it to the media themselves. Instead, they hand it to the PR department at the Ministry of Environment, Tourism & Wildlife (the museum operates under this ministry), who then deal with the media calls,invitations or giving them information on behalf of the museum. 'Probably' this is so the ministry can control the information that is given to the media. So my question is: Do you think its ok for practitioners to not have a direct relationship with the media, shouldnt the museum's PR practitioners deal directly with the media as they know all the background information and circumstances behind that campaign or press release?
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2 comments:
Ms Komane i do think direct communication with the media is always the best option but still in whatever channel that data has go through in order to reach the media is still affordable. gate-keeping is not a matter of concern since the BNA is a sub-org of METW i guess; if you look at both sides of the coin its not a loss on either party as in most cases of PR unlike advertising the media has absolute control on what to publish/air and the only advantage both of you have is to present an exceptional and quality data that will result in a win-win situation.
Hello,
You both have some interesting points but there is a ‘but’ on mine. I believe those practitioners have to contact the media themselves. The case being, they know their stakeholders better than anyone outside and it is their duty to maintain and strengthen their relationships. So if they never contact the media, then they have a lot of work to do.
I take it Ministry of Environment; Tourism & Wildlife are one of their stakeholders. So they can just see them for legal purposes but they are the ones responsible for making all those phone calls (at least that's what I would expect in my company).
James, L. Horton in his article ‘salesmanship in pr,’ said that for PR practitioners when dealing with the media, it is fruitless to say contacts aren’t as important as a story. In short, how useful will your story be if you do not have a connection or bond with the media?
Although I have realized that many companies do that especially if the media in a certain country is controlled by the government (they are sure to get coverage if they take it to the media through the government), I do not support the idea, I believe the practitioners should themselves be on toes of the media, calling them to see if their stories are being published.
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