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Public Relations vs Media Relations

Publicity is a powerful agenda-setting tool.

Jerry Silfwer
by Jerry Silfwer

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

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Let’s dis­cuss pub­lic rela­tions vs media relations.

Media rela­tions is one of many sub­sets of pub­lic rela­tions. By using pub­li­city, PR pro­fes­sion­als can influ­ence the news agenda and indir­ectly influ­ence import­ant publics.

Here we go:

Public Relations vs Media Relations

There are sev­er­al dif­fer­ent types of spe­cial­isa­tion with­in the PR industry. One such spe­cial­isa­tion is—media rela­tions. 1Silfwer, J. (2021, January 5). The Stakeholders in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​s​t​a​k​e​h​o​l​d​e​r​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

“Mass media cam­paigns primar­ily influ­ence pub­lic agenda-set­ting, rather than dir­ectly per­suad­ing pub­lics, rather influ­en­cing which issues and organ­iz­a­tions are dis­cussed.”
Source: Public Relations Review 2McCombs, M. (1977). Agenda set­ting func­tion of mass media. Public Relations Review, 3, 89 – 95. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​7​7​)​8​0​008 – 8

Media Relations Responsibilities

Some PR pro­fes­sion­als are media rela­tions spe­cial­ists. Their typ­ic­al duties encom­pass a range of tasks related to man­aging and enhan­cing the organ­iz­a­tion’s repu­ta­tion through the media.

Here are some of their core responsibilities:

  • Developing media rela­tions strategies. Craft strategies that out­line how the organ­isa­tion will engage with the media, includ­ing identi­fy­ing key mes­sages, tar­get audi­ences, and the most effect­ive chan­nels for communication.
  • Writing and dis­trib­ut­ing press releases. Create press releases to announce news­worthy events, product launches, or com­pany achieve­ments and dis­trib­ute them to rel­ev­ant media out­lets. 3Silfwer, J. (2010, September 30). The Classic Press Release Template. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​e​s​s​-​r​e​l​e​a​s​e​-​t​e​m​p​l​a​te/
  • Pitching stor­ies to journ­al­ists. Contact journ­al­ists and edit­ors with story ideas high­light­ing the organ­isa­tion’s activ­it­ies, achieve­ments, or per­spect­ives on cur­rent trends and news. 4Silfwer, J. (2021, February 26). How to Write a PR Pitch: Step-by-Step Guide. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​p​i​t​ch/
  • Managing media inquir­ies (press office). Serve as the primary point of con­tact for all media inquir­ies, respond­ing promptly and provid­ing accur­ate inform­a­tion to journalists.
  • Preparing media kits. Assemble media kits that con­tain essen­tial inform­a­tion about the organ­iz­a­tion, such as press releases, com­pany back­ground, exec­ut­ive bios, and high-res­ol­u­tion images. 5Silfwer, J. (2023, December 21). The Media Kit: What To Include. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​m​e​d​i​a​-​k​it/
  • Organising press con­fer­ences and media events. Plan and execute events for the media, such as press con­fer­ences, inter­views, and media tours, to facil­it­ate dir­ect inter­ac­tion with the organ­iz­a­tion’s spokespeople.
  • Media mon­it­or­ing. Monitor media cov­er­age related to the organ­isa­tion, its industry, and com­pet­it­ors to under­stand media sen­ti­ment and the effect­ive­ness of media rela­tions strategies.
  • Crisis com­mu­nic­a­tion. Developing and imple­ment­ing com­mu­nic­a­tion strategies to man­age and mit­ig­ate neg­at­ive pub­li­city in times of crisis, ensur­ing that the organ­isa­tion’s view­point is understood.
  • Building and main­tain­ing rela­tion­ships with the media. Establishing and nur­tur­ing pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ships with journ­al­ists, blog­gers, and influ­en­cers to ensure ongo­ing interest and cov­er­age of the organ­isa­tion’s activities.
  • Media train­ing for spokes­per­sons. Preparing exec­ut­ives and des­ig­nated spokespeople for media inter­views, pub­lic appear­ances, mes­sage devel­op­ment, and media training.
  • Analysing and report­ing on media cov­er­age. Evaluating the effect­ive­ness of media rela­tions efforts through ana­lys­is of media cov­er­age, includ­ing reach, sen­ti­ment, and impact on organ­isa­tion­al goals.
  • Social media engage­ment. Engaging with journ­al­ists and media out­lets via social media plat­forms to build rela­tion­ships and amp­li­fy the organ­isa­tion’s messages.

Typical Media Relations Job Titles

Some typ­ic­al job titles for media rela­tions spe­cial­ists are:

  • Media Relations Specialist
  • Media Relations Consultant
  • Media Relations Adviser
  • Media Relations Manager
  • Media Relations Coördinator
  • Media Liaison Officer
  • Public Information Officer (PIO)
  • Press Officer
  • Press Secretary
  • Publicist

The rela­tion­ship with journ­al­ists can some­times be tense due to the dif­fer­ent object­ives of each field. 6Silfwer, J. (2011, October 17). Public Relations vs Journalism. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​n​s​-​v​s​-​j​o​u​r​n​a​l​i​sm/

Learn more: Public Relations vs Media Relations

Classic Media Logic: Beware the News

Classic media logic can be regarded as a rhet­or­ic­al approach to PR the­ory.

“The pos­i­tion and size of art­icles on the front page is determ­ined by interest and import­ance, not con­tent. Unrelated reports […] are jux­ta­posed; time and space are des­troyed and the here and now are presen­ted as a single Gestalt. […] Such a format lends itself to sim­ul­tan­eity, not chro­no­logy or lin­eal­ity. Items abstrac­ted from a total situ­ation are not arranged in caus­al sequence, but presen­ted in asso­ci­ation, as raw exper­i­ence.“
Source: The new lan­guages (1956) 7Carpenter, E. & McLuhan, M. (1956) The new lan­guages. Chicago Review. 10(1) pp. 46 – 52.

Contrary to pop­u­lar belief, clas­sic media logic is not one single the­ory. Instead, it’s a col­lec­tion of the­or­ies about how the medi­um and its con­text influ­ence medi­ated messages.

“[…] each com­mu­nic­a­tion chan­nel codi­fies real­ity dif­fer­ently and thereby influ­ences, to a sur­pris­ing degree, the con­tent of the mes­sage com­mu­nic­ated.”
Source: The new lan­guages (1956) 8Carpenter, E. & McLuhan, M. (1956) The new lan­guages. Chicago Review. 10(1) pp. 46 – 52.

Classic Media Logic Effects

Classic media logic is hypo­thes­ised to influ­ence the news media in the fol­low­ing ways: 9Nord, L., & Strömbäck, J. (2002, January). Tio dagar som skakade världen. En stud­ie av medi­ernas beskrivningar av ter­ror­at­tack­erna mot USA och kri­get i Afghanistan hösten 2001. … Continue read­ing

  • Aggravation. Due to media logic, the news media will exag­ger­ate events, con­cepts, and ideas to make them seem more severe or dan­ger­ous than they are.
  • Simplification. Due to media logic, the news media will dumb down events, con­cepts, and ideas to make them seem more under­stand­able than they are.
  • Polarisation. Due to media logic, the news media por­trays events, con­cepts, and ideas as more conflicting/​provocative than they are.
  • Intensification. Due to media logic, the news media will sen­sa­tion­al­ise events, con­cepts, and ideas to make them more irres­ist­ible than they are.
  • Concreteness. Due to media logic, news media will report events, con­cepts, and ideas more straight­for­wardly than they are.
  • Personalisation. Due to media logic, the news media will over­em­phas­ise the role of named indi­vidu­als in con­junc­tion with events, con­cepts, and ideas.
  • Stereotypisation. Due to media logic, the news media frames events, con­cepts, and ideas as more aligned with con­ven­tion­al perceptions/​opinions than they are.

“The dom­in­ant pro­cesses, estab­lished routines, and stand­ard­ized formats which frame and shape the pro­duc­tion of mass-media con­tent, espe­cially its rep­res­ent­a­tion or con­struc­tion of real­ity, and its man­u­fac­ture of news. Media logic inter­sects with com­mer­cial logic and polit­ic­al logic — con­flu­ences asso­ci­ated with such phe­nom­ena as tabloid­iz­a­tion and the medi­at­iz­a­tion of polit­ics. Media logic exists wherever medi­ation exists. It con­trib­utes to the shap­ing of social order in mod­ern post-indus­tri­al cul­tures.“
Source: Oxford Reference 10Media Logic. (2023). Oxford Reference. https://​www​.oxfordrefer​ence​.com/​d​i​s​p​l​a​y​/​1​0​.​1​0​9​3​/​o​i​/​a​u​t​h​o​r​i​t​y​.​2​0​1​1​0​8​1​0​1​0​5​3​5​7​611

Media logic theories.
Media logic theories.

Learn more: Media Logic is Dead, Long Live Media Logic

The Media Blackout Tactic

Refusing to answer journ­al­ist­ic ques­tions used to be a big no-no in pub­lic rela­tions. However, this pro­fes­sion­al eth­os is under­go­ing some changes.

More and more organ­isa­tions are delib­er­ately avoid­ing any inter­ac­tion with tra­di­tion­al news media:

Media black­out = when an organ­isa­tion refuses to engage with journ­al­ists to pro­tect busi­ness interests and mit­ig­ate dam­age. Journalists cri­ti­cise this prac­tice as it obstructs invest­ig­at­ive report­ing and under­mines soci­et­al transparency.

According to some organ­isa­tions, media black­outs are a reas­on­able out­come of unfair rules of engage­ment in a post-truth media landscape:

Media mine­field = the post-truth media land­scape where inter­ac­tions with leg­acy news media often res­ult in delib­er­ate mis­rep­res­ent­a­tion. Organisations nav­ig­ate this ter­rain cau­tiously to avoid dam­aging their repu­ta­tion and pub­lic image.

The Media Analysis

To resolve the situ­ation, we face two main challenges:

  • As organ­isa­tions learn to thrive without leg­acy news media, the PR func­tion must aban­don using the media black­out as a long-term tactic.
  • Legacy news media must acknow­ledge the media mine­field and return to report­ing the bal­anced truth to the best of their journ­al­ist­ic abilities.

However, as a PR pro­fes­sion­al with 18+ years of exper­i­ence, I believe we will fall short on both these challenges.

Traditional news media will con­tin­ue to fall apart, and the erosion of trust in organ­isa­tions will be one of the many con­trib­ut­ing factors. Organisations will likely opt for post-truth strategies, lead­ing to organ­isa­tion­al cor­ro­sion from the inside out.

“Post-truth is a soci­et­al phe­nomen­on, influ­enced by the expect­a­tion that hon­esty is the default pos­i­tion, and the pub­lic tol­er­ance of inac­cur­ate and undefen­ded alleg­a­tions in polit­ics.”
Source: Nature 11Higgins, K. (2016). Post-truth: a guide for the per­plexed. Nature, 540, 9 – 9. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​3​8​/​5​4​0​0​09a

Instead, new “soci­et­al pil­lars” must emerge from the rubble: a new form of inde­pend­ent news media based on trust (not clicks or ideo­logy) and a new form of suc­cess­ful organ­isa­tions based on trans­par­ency (not avoid­ance or exploitation).

Learn more: The Media Blackout Tactic

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Annotations
Annotations
1 Silfwer, J. (2021, January 5). The Stakeholders in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​s​t​a​k​e​h​o​l​d​e​r​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/
2 McCombs, M. (1977). Agenda set­ting func­tion of mass media. Public Relations Review, 3, 89 – 95. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​7​7​)​8​0​008 – 8
3 Silfwer, J. (2010, September 30). The Classic Press Release Template. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​e​s​s​-​r​e​l​e​a​s​e​-​t​e​m​p​l​a​te/
4 Silfwer, J. (2021, February 26). How to Write a PR Pitch: Step-by-Step Guide. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​p​i​t​ch/
5 Silfwer, J. (2023, December 21). The Media Kit: What To Include. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​m​e​d​i​a​-​k​it/
6 Silfwer, J. (2011, October 17). Public Relations vs Journalism. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​n​s​-​v​s​-​j​o​u​r​n​a​l​i​sm/
7, 8 Carpenter, E. & McLuhan, M. (1956) The new lan­guages. Chicago Review. 10(1) pp. 46 – 52.
9 Nord, L., & Strömbäck, J. (2002, January). Tio dagar som skakade världen. En stud­ie av medi­ernas beskrivningar av ter­ror­at­tack­erna mot USA och kri­get i Afghanistan hösten 2001. ResearchGate; Styrelsen för psyko­lo­giskt förs­var. https://​www​.researchg​ate​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​a​t​i​o​n​/​2​7​1​0​1​4​6​2​4​_​T​i​o​_​d​a​g​a​r​_​s​o​m​_​s​k​a​k​a​d​e​_​v​a​r​l​d​e​n​_​E​n​_​s​t​u​d​i​e​_​a​v​_​m​e​d​i​e​r​n​a​s​_​b​e​s​k​r​i​v​n​i​n​g​a​r​_​a​v​_​t​e​r​r​o​r​a​t​t​a​c​k​e​r​n​a​_​m​o​t​_​U​S​A​_​o​c​h​_​k​r​i​g​e​t​_​i​_​A​f​g​h​a​n​i​s​t​a​n​_​h​o​s​t​e​n​_​2​001
10 Media Logic. (2023). Oxford Reference. https://​www​.oxfordrefer​ence​.com/​d​i​s​p​l​a​y​/​1​0​.​1​0​9​3​/​o​i​/​a​u​t​h​o​r​i​t​y​.​2​0​1​1​0​8​1​0​1​0​5​3​5​7​611
11 Higgins, K. (2016). Post-truth: a guide for the per­plexed. Nature, 540, 9 – 9. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​3​8​/​5​4​0​0​09a
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Whispr Group NYC, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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