Week 7: Contact between Journalists and PR Practitioners

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings is that PR Practitioners should know how to write effectively, professionally, and especially in the inverted pyramid style.

In addition, they should know the preferences of the journalists they contact, if they would prefer Email, Phone, or Hard-copy information (Press kits, DVDs, CDs, etc).

Also, PR Practitioners should not be too overtly self serving in the information they provide, else they would seem like they are trying to "hard-sell" their product or company.

Last but not least, they should have a news sense, a journalistic perception of news, be it a local news angle or international news angle, and the correct frame to place the news in.

The readings made me think more about how much of the communication skills PR and Journalism have in common. The journalists complained about "spin-doctoring", non-ethical promotion by PR practitioners just to get airtime or publicity, and even bad writing. However, there are some that commented that former journalists makes a good PR Practitioner. This shows the correlation of the skills needed both both fields.

Both of the fields require good writing skills, a news sense, good relations with the contact person of the other party, good current affairs knowledge, and good framing of news/agendas.

In my opinion, if all PR practitioners had been journalists before, communications between the 2 fields would be definitely smoother and more effective.

However, there is a point where journalists tend to publish news that make them "feel good" or "look good" such as a positive article regarding NGO (Non Governmental Organisations) or Not-For-Profit Organisations. It makes them feel like they have done a good deed, and would be good for their reputation as a civic-minded journalist.

In this fact, it can also be seen that journalists can also be self serving, but is demonstrated differently from a PR Practitioner who strives for company gain. There are always two sides to a coin, and it is up to the PR Practitioner to know how to frame his/her agendas in a way that is pleasing to the Journalists. This would ensure a higher chance of success in getting the information conveyed to the publics.