Media Relations

In many cases, managing the way an organisation is portrayed in the media is at the heart of a PR strategy. The influence of the media over reputation, and its importance in shaping attitudes and perception, means that few businesses can afford to neglect cultivating strong and beneficial relationships with journalists.

Success in this field requires a few key skills:

• sufficient knowledge of the media to target key audiences successfully
• the ability to build and maintain good relationships with key journalists
• a strong news sense, to create opportunities and give journalists what they are seeking
• strong writing skills

The media landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and continues to evolve at a pace. The advent of online media outlets has challenged the status quo, and created an unprecedented sense of immediacy which requires supple thinking and the ability to adapt.

Faced with this challenge, traditional media has had to change, too. Many longstanding media organisations have immersed themselves in the online space, but many more are also fighting back to preserve their share of voice in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

The days of simply blasting out press releases and waiting for coverage (if they ever really existed) are long gone. A story now has to be presented in myriad different ways to satisfy the very specific needs of each media outlet.

One thing hasn’t changed, though: content is still the thing which drives all media. It is what engages readers, viewers and listeners – essential for all media. That means a strong news sense is still a core skill in media relations.