Over two decades in TV news, I’ve worked with a lot of public relations people.
The profession sometimes gets a negative reputation. In a small newsroom, it’s easy to feel like you’re being played by a big company when you know that their PR department is larger than your entire newsroom.
But when done right, PR can be good for the organization, the media, and the public as a whole through the release of accurate information in a timely fashion.
Here are some of the things I’ve found that build positive relationships:
Reach out before there’s a crisis. Let newsrooms know how to reach you, including your cell phone number and email address, as well as who to contact if you’re not available. Larger companies will often set up meet-and-greet meetings to provide background information on the organization. This isn’t always necessary, but it can be helpful.
After that initial contact, be available. Business hours are only 40 hours per week, but news can happen during any of the 168 hours in the week. Who’s the contact outside of business hours? If your organization regularly has news happen outside of business hours but you only have one person assigned as a 24/7 PR contact, that person will get burned out really quickly.
Don’t keep secrets. This may seem counterintuitive if you believe that your job is to prevent the release of negative information. It will get out eventually, and your organization will look worse if it appears you are trying to keep it a secret. It’s better to release the information with your organization’s perspective from the start.
Along those same lines, release the information to everyone. It’s galling when a competitor breaks a big story containing a prepared statement that your newsroom hasn’t been provided. It’s also annoying when competitors quote news releases that haven’t been posted to the organization’s own website or social media platforms.
One of the best ways to build a positive relationship is to give trusted journalists a heads-up about big news that’s coming out soon. This can be anything from an off-the-record phone call to an embargoed news release so journalists can write the story in advance. Just make sure that same news release is issued to everyone as soon as the embargo is lifted.
Remember that an embargo agreement requires both sides; the journalists have to agree to hold the news. If you send out a mass news release requesting that the information be held, some news organizations might not even notice the embargo. Check first.
Know that regulatory and legal filings are public information, and the media might report on them before you’ve issued a news release. This might require coordination within an organization to make sure the news release is ready before the filing is submitted. (This has been true both in my TV news career and here on NorthPine.com. Sadly, I’ve heard from a few people who found out about major developments at their stations from my website rather than from their bosses.)
Stay positive and professional, remembering that we both have jobs to do. One thing that can quickly sour a relationship is to be overly critical of tiny details about how every story is written. Of course, we want to know if we’ve made an error or presented your organization’s stance incorrectly. But in rare situations, I’ve seen this type of feedback devolve into nitpicking that makes journalists want to stay as far away from the PR person as possible. Don’t tell us how to write the story.
Jon Ellis has worked in small-market TV news for 20 years in assistant news director and producer positions.
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