Reading For Week 7

Chapter 10 for the textbook addressed one of the most significant factors of PR, being Media Relations.

I actually found this particularly interesting, moreso than most other chapters so far, as I'm actually majoring in Journalism for my Communication degree with PR as an elective, so this applied with special pertinence to me. It made me give deeper thought to the balance of power between journalism and PR, and who really wears the pants. Obviously, both parties depend on each other to varying extents, but it's interesting to try and pinpoint who possesses more influence over the other, and consequently I was especially intrigued by this chapter.

An interesting point raised was the fact that aside from Melbourne and Sydney, each capital city has only one daily newspaper. For PR practitioners, this means they may have to resort to 'walking on eggshells', as betraying the trust of one journalist or media outlet may burn your only major bridge to your target audience.

Both parties respond to the information supplied by the other. Where a PR practitioner issues a media release, a journalists may run with the lead for a news story. Where a journalist reports an article concerning a person or entity, a PR practitioner may put a spin on it, and manipulate it according to their image/reputation agenda.

As the chapter states, "dealing with the media is a critical part of the public relations practitioner's profession". Similar to what I presumed, Johnston and Zawawi describe the relationship between the media and the public relations profession as an "uneasy alliance", although noted that there is growing interdependence in the two industries.