Wednesday, October 16, 2013

6 - Media catching and media relations - Martin de la Cruz

Media covering Pres. Obama - procommunicator.com


Reference

Waters, R. D., Tindall, N. J., & Morton, T. S. (2010). Media Catching and the Journalist-Public Relations Practitioner Relationship: How Social Media are Changing the Practice of Media Relations. Journal Of Public Relations Research, 22(3), 241-264. doi:10.1080/10627261003799202

Theme

PIOs and other public relations people need to be looking at the social media as a way to reach journalists.

Summary

Rather than waiting for the stories from public relations practitioners journalists are now using social media to get story ideas.

By using technology and social media journalists get public relations practitioners to compete with story ideas. This phenomenon is called media catching.  See more at: http://www.instituteforpr.org/scienceofsocialmedia/media-catching-and-the-journalist-public-relations-practitioner-relationship-how-social-media-are-changing-the-practice-of-media-relations/#sthash.hdEl4pL7.dpuf

Traditional media are using twitter, but new media outlets have turned to online services like HARO (Help-a-Reporter-Out.com) and LISTSERV technology to get story ideas

Application to the lesson

Media relations is the idea of cultivating a relationship with journalists and editors before an emergency.  This is crucial in developing an understanding of the role and needs of the media. When technology takes over, like with media catching, it becomes more difficult to develop relations with journalists, because as a PIO you may never see them.  Thus, it becomes even more important as a PIO to reach out and meet journalists.

Application to emergency services

In order to garner positive media attention, it is necessary to actively engage journalists instead of waiting for the journalists to cover you on their own. 

3 comments:

  1. Social media is such a great tool during a disaster. Almost everybody is on it and checks it frequently. Posting information on social media will be seen by millions of people in a short period of time. Getting information across to the masses just doesn't get much easier than that.

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  3. I could not agree with this more. Not only is it useful because if the technology of our society, but it eliminates the need for face to face updates all the time. Formal press conferences are still helpful and necessary, but there is no need to hold a press conference just to say that there are no new updates. Social media really maximizes effectiveness of a PIO and allows them to do multiple components of their job without being completely overwhelmed.

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