Although it seems less common these days, there are still a fair number of us public relations practitioners who enter the business by crossing over from the journalists side of the notebook. When you make that transition, you become something of an oracle. Colleagues and clients expect you to be the walking, talking answer to the Rubiks cube puzzle of how to gain the attention of the media. If only it were that simple! Landing media placements is at least as much about art as it is science. But its also about you and who you are as a PR person. What did I learn in two decades of writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and news services? First of all, a PR pro doesnt need a journalistic pedigree to succeed with journalists. But you do have to possess something else: knowledge of what journalists really want from PR people. Im not talking about what journalists want from your story thats another subject. Im talking about you. Do you know what journalists want from you, as the individual whos e-mailing, faxing, calling and (too often, I fear) pestering them? Heres my short list of attributes that will get you a hearing from journalists (and thats all you want your story will sink or float on its own merits): 1. Honest brokers Journalists know PR people have something to promote a company, a product, a point of view. Thats not the issue. Its whether the journalist trusts that the story is coming from someone who wont waste their time someone who has invested the effort to understand them, their organization, their boss, and whether the story might interest the audience the journalist serves. Trust is fundamental but its also earned. Becoming an honest broker requires more than one conversation with a journalist. It requires enough dialogue that a relationship and a history of honest dealings can be established. 2. Facilitators Face it, journalists dont want to talk to PR people at least not on the record, and not as newsmakers. Good PR practitioners know theyre not newsmakers. They recognize that their role is to make stories happen, not be part of them. So good PR pros focus on being matchmakers, putting journalists together with the sources who make stories come alive. For the PR pro, as well as the journalist, its all about the story. Its not about you, or the institutional challenges you face in making the story happen. Its about making the story real. And that leads me to what journalists really, really want from PR practitioners (and what we should strive to be): 3. Advocates for communication No journalist wants to deal with a PR person whos primarily unavailable, and when he or she is available, has a vocabulary limited to phrases such as no comment. All other things being equal (including working for an organization or a leader who doesnt communicate) journalists still give the benefit of the doubt to a PR person whom they know to be an advocate of communication. That doesnt mean someone whos going to speak at inappropriate times about subjects that arent in the best interests of their organization. It means someone who understands deadlines, editors, the competition and the other pressures that journalists face while trying to do their jobs. It means someone who understands that the best interests of their organization always include good relationships with the news media, the trusted purveyors of independent information for the customers, employees, investors and other audiences that the PR pro wants to reach. In the end, thats what all of media relations is really about: A good journalist and a good PR pro want to serve their audiences first. Its not always possible for journalists and PR pros to achieve that objective from their respective viewpoints in every interaction. But over the course of time, in a relationship of trust, respect and understanding, honest brokers who facilitate the story and advocate for communication will succeed in landing media placements. |
