Public Relations vs Media Relations

Let’s dis­cuss pub­lic rela­tions vs media relations.

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

Here we go:

Public Relations vs Media Relations

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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

Some PR pro­fes­sion­als are Media Relations spe­cial­ists. Their typ­ic­al duties encom­pass a range of tasks to man­age and enhance the organ­iz­a­tion’s repu­ta­tion through the media. 

Here are some of their core responsibilities:

• Developing media rela­tions strategies. Crafting com­pre­hens­ive strategies that out­line how the organ­iz­a­tion will engage with the media, includ­ing identi­fy­ing key mes­sages, tar­get audi­ences, and the most effect­ive chan­nels for communication.
• Writing and dis­trib­ut­ing press releases. Creating press releases to announce news­worthy events, product launches, or com­pany achieve­ments, and dis­trib­ut­ing 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 organ­iz­a­tion’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). Serving as the primary point of con­tact for all media inquir­ies, respond­ing promptly, and provid­ing accur­ate inform­a­tion to journalists.
• Preparing media kits. Assembling 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/
• Organizing press con­fer­ences and media events. Planning and execut­ing events spe­cific­ally designed for the media, such as press con­fer­ences, inter­views, and media tours, to facil­it­ate dir­ect inter­ac­tion with the organ­iz­a­tion’s spokespeople.
• Media mon­it­or­ing. Keeping track of media cov­er­age related to the organ­iz­a­tion, 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 organ­iz­a­tion’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 organ­iz­a­tion’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 organ­iz­a­tion’s messages.

Some com­mon 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

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Media Logic: Never Trust the News

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. ResearchGate; … Continue read­ing

“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

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

Hot Topic: The Media Blackout

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The Media Blackout Tactic

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

Media Blackout = when an organ­isa­tion inten­tion­ally avoid enga­ging with leg­acy news media, often to con­trol the nar­rat­ive and pro­tect interests. Journalists cri­ti­cise this prac­tice as it obstructs invest­ig­at­ive report­ing and under­mines inform­a­tion transparency.

Media Blackouts are the res­ult 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.

Legacy news media will con­tin­ue to fall apart — where the erosion of trust from organ­isa­tions will be one of 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 be born out of 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: When PR Declines Media Interviews

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PR Resource: Public Relations 101

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Doctor Spin’s PR School: Free Introduction PR Course

Get star­ted with this free Introduction PR Course and learn essen­tial pub­lic rela­tions skills and con­cepts for future suc­cess in the PR industry.

Introducing Public Relations

• What is Public Relations?
• The Public Relations Definition
• The Stakeholders in Public Relations
• The Influencers in Public Relations
• The Publics in Public Relations
• What Public Relations Does for an Organisation
• Kirk Hallahan’s Five Types of Publics
• PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical
• The Four Models of Public Relations
• The PESO Model: Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned Media

Comparing Public Relations

• Public Relations vs Marketing
• Public Relations vs Journalism
• Public Relations vs Media Relations
• Public Relations vs Publicity
• Public Relations vs Advertising (to be published)
• Public Relations vs Public Affairs (to be published)

Reading List: PR Blogs

• Doctor Spin’s List of PR Blogs

Learn more: All Free PR Courses

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