5. Media Relations

A) Summary of the textbook

One of the most critical areas within any corporate communication function is the media relations department.

◙ The news Media

Referred to as “the press” in earlier times, the expanded media are a powerful part of society. While most Americans feel strongly about the rights of a free press to say or print whatever it likes as long as it is not malicious, business has always had a more antagonistic relationship with the press. The increased public and media interest had a profound effect on business and its dealing with the media. And then, the private sector has become much more public.
Business leaders, on the other hand, were used to the privacy they had maintained for decades and were reluctant to admit that’s had changed. Even, today, some older business professionals resist accepting the importance of communicating through the media and would rather maintain little or no relationship with what they see as an institution that tries to tear down everything they build up.

1) The Growth of Business Coverage in the Media
Before the 1970s, business news was relegated to a few pages toward the back of the newspaper and to a handful of business magazines.
As public attitudes changed, however, the business news sections in newspapers gained recognition and began to expand. Today, so many magazines and Web sites are devoted to business news that it is nearly impossible to find a topic not thoroughly covered by one media outlet or another.

◙ Building Better Relations with the Media
To build better relationships with members of the media, organizations must take the time to cultivate relationships with the right people in the media. This might be handled by employees within the company’s media relations department or given to a public relations firm to handle. Part of the problem is that the measure of success in the media relations business has for years been the amount of “ink”(or coverage) that a company gets, whether aided by in-house professionals or an outside consultant.

1) Conducting Research for Targeting Media
Senior managers working with the members of the corporate communication department determine what objectives they have for a certain story. To do this, the corporate communication professionals look in their files to find out who covers their industry and the company specially.
By conducting this kind of research, companies can avoid giving reporters information that they are not interested in, and communications need only occur when a company’s media audience is more likely to be receptive.

2) Responding to Media Calls
Companies can strengthen their relationships with the media through the way they handle requests for information.
To begin with, calls should come into a central office that deals with all requests for information from important national media. Next, the person who takes the call should try to find out what angle the reporter is taking on the story.
The person responsible for that telephone call should try to get as much information as possible while being careful not to give in return any information that is not already public knowledge. The tone of the conversation should be as friendly as possible, and the media relations professionals should communicate honestly about the possibilities of arranging an interview or meeting other requests.

3) Preparing for Media Interviews
Once the research and analysis are complete, the executive who will be interviewed needs to be prepared for the actual meeting with the reporter. In preparing for a television interview, a full-dress rehearsal is absolutely essential. The interview should look as if it is totally natural and unrehearsed when it actually occurs, but the executive should be prepared well in advance. In addition to thinking about what to say, the executive needs to think about the interesting approach to expressing these messages. Using statistics and anecdotes can help bring ideas alive in an interview. Finally, the executive needs to be prepared to state key ideas as clearly as possible at the beginning of the interview. Answers to questions need to be as succinct as possible.

4) Gauging Success
The amount of ink a company gets does not indicate whether it is achieving its communication objectives. In addition to this sort of media monitoring and analysis, the more sophisticated approach to measurement of media relations has the power to
● identify which communications activities create the most value in terms of a specific business outcome.
● Evaluate how well an organization’s various communications functions perform against an industry average.
● Demonstrate the total value created by a CorpComm department in terms of one or more business outcomes.
● Drive strategic and tactical decision making in the communications function, hedging reputational risk, and managing major events such as mergers and top management changes
● Highlight actual corporate value created by communications activities.

5) Maintaining Ongoing Relationships
The most critical component in media relations is developing and maintaining a network of contacts with the media. Building and maintaining close relationships is a prerequisite for generating coverage. Firms need to work to develop long-term relationships with the right journalists for their specific industry. This usually means meeting with reporters just to build goodwill and credibility. The more private and privileged these sessions are, the better the long-term relationship is likely to be.

◙ Building a Successful Media Relations Program
Organizations must be willing to devote resources to the effort. This does not necessarily have to mean huge outlays of money; an executive’s time can be just as valuable.

1) Involve Media Relations Personnel in Strategy
Companies need to involve someone, preferably the most senior corporate communication executive, in the decision-making process. Communications professionals who are involved in the decision the decision-making process also feel more ownership for the ideas that they need to present to the media.

2) Develop In-House Capabilities
While using consultants and public relations firms may be beneficial in some cases, by far the best approach for the long term is to develop an in-house media relations staff. Companies must recognize that building relations with the media is a skill and that individuals with certain personalities and backgrounds are better suited to the task than others.

3) Using Outside Counsel Sparingly
Companies should hire outside counsel for advice or information, to help out with a major story, or when a crisis hits. Another important use for outside firms is to help with the distribution of press releases and to create video news releases. This type of communication can be valuable for a company trying to get its message across to a wide audience.

◙ Developing an Online Media Strategy
Companies with well-managed media relations programs have had some leverage to get their own side of the story communicated to the public. Over the last two decades, however, wireless communication and the Internet have transferred an enormous amount of power into the hands of individuals.
The Internet Age has many implications for business, including an expansion to individuals of powers that were previously concentrated in the hands of the organized media. Accordingly, companies’ media strategies need to be augmented with tactics for dealing this new dimension of coverage, including, for instance, establishing a forum for constituencies to share opinions, concerns, and complaints about the company, and a proactive effort to monitor information circulating about the company in various media channels including blogs. Unfortunately, however, the Internet does not discriminate between legitimate news and phony claim, and both are transmitted with equal speed and reach.
As the Internet is increasingly used as a tool to communicate company news to various constituencies, more care will have to be taken that sources are trusted and reliable. Because of the widespread reach of the Internet, a growing number of companies are paying more attention to the Web, realizing that bad publicity online can legitimately threaten their bottom line.

1) Extend Your Media Relations Strategy to the Blogsphere
Blogs are publicly accessible personal Web that serve as sources of commentary, opinion, and information on a variety of topics. In addition, blogs are an important tool for corporations to track consumer points of view and concerns. Many savvy media relations professionals have targeted lists of bloggers they contact because blogs are a growing and important media outlet.
Monitoring Internet “chats” and blogs can enable companies to learn about current constituency needs and tailor actions to meet those that are most vital to the company’s reputation and bottom line. By using the Internet proactively, companies can glean valuable insights about constituency attitudes, sentiments, and reactions to which they might otherwise not have access. Without a doubt, online monitoring can companies gauge the sentiments of constituencies, allow them to respond effectively, and help them stay on top of today’s information surge. However, companies should not become so consumed by the power of the Internet that they neglect other important media channels.

2) Handle Negative News Effectively
When a company does stumble upon bad news circulating about itself, the communications department should quickly assess the potential damage that the news might cause. A company’s task force or permanent crisis communication team-including members of senior management- must brainstorm some potential actions. Company lawyers should be consulted to discuss what legal stance the company might need to take.

◙ Conclusion
As technology develops new mechanisms for disseminating information, and as corporate communication professionals are able to develop databases through the use of more sophisticated software, the media relations function will continue to evolve away from the old PR flak model into a professional group that can help organizations get their message out quickly, honestly, and to the right media. Managers must be prepared to answer this demand by considering all constituencies – online or offline- in dealing with the media agents who inform them.

References:
1. http://www.mediarelationsblog.com/131/media-relations-summit-2008-a-preview/
2. http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/04/the-future-of-pr-media-relations-summit-2008/