Newswire services, such as those provided the Press Association, play a major role in determining which stories are covered by the media, and how. Their influence is arguably still rising: with budgets at most newspapers falling, journalists and editors increasingly rely on reports and content from newswire reporters to help them piece stories together.
Speaking at an event recently, PA’s editor, Jonathan Grun, highlighted the sheer volume of content the service produces – its bulletins weigh in at 150,000 words of news copy per day, supported by a total of around 300 images from its picture desk and a growing stream of video and multimedia content.
For PR campaigns aimed at the national media, the implications are clear: a successful pitch to a PA correspondent can dramatically boost the overall coverage achieved. As a shortcut to getting your story in front of newspaper journalists it’s hard to beat. Every national paper subscribes to the service, and most regional outlets too.
Non-stop news
As print news gives way to 24/7 digital coverage, the ‘always-on’ nature of the newswire has taken on more significance. Think about the breaking news headlines that flash up at the top of newspaper websites – a lot of the time they are attributed to outfits like the PA, with in-house reporters filling out the story for their readers as more details emerge. The recent tidal wave that is the phone hacking scandal has demonstrated just how quickly and unpredictably stories can develop.
Unless you are the story, one of the easiest ways for your organisation to be included in the coverage of an event is by offering comment on the issue at hand. It’s common practice for journalists to build up their reports with reaction quotes from experts on the topic they are covering, or from those affected by developments. Check out the next announcement on interest rates from the Bank of England, for example – many of the reports that follow will carry canned comment from economists, business figures and consumer rights organisations, all offering a different perspective.
More haste…
Jonathan was clear in his advice to organisations hoping to use the news to get their message across to the public: speed is of the essence. The emphasis in the newsroom is always on the next big thing – once a story has been filed a reporter will move onto something else. PRs have a short window of opportunity to pass on their client’s contribution to the debate before it quickly becomes irrelevant.
It’s important, therefore, for the media relations operation to be geared up to respond in time. It helps for an organisation to have a strong and clearly-defined sense of the messages it wants to convey, a PR team that understands this and its objectives as a business, and an efficient approvals process to ensure the comment gets out the door in time.
Speed is also key in a crisis comms situation, where an organisation has attracted negative publicity. An over-cautious approach to communications has the potential to exacerbate the situation. As Jonathan noted, if a company spends too long formulating a response to an allegation, it runs the risk of appearing calculating, unconcerned or incompetent to the public. In his opinion, the best approach is to make a spokesperson available as soon as possible, or at least to provide a holding statement to reporters covering the story.
Content is king
It was also interesting to hear Jonathan describe how the PA has expanded its coverage of the news with additional multimedia content. In his words, the aim is now to provide a ‘complete package’ for a story, mirroring the increasingly digital-focused priorities of the media outlets the PA serves.
In some ways, the term ‘newswire’ has become less accurate at describing the service the PA delivers, with its old-fashioned connotations of roving reporters telegraphing written updates back to base. In truth, the PA has moved on quite dramatically, as illustrated by the integrated approach to its newsroom operations. At the heart of this lies the ‘command centre’ (or ‘news desk’ as the rest of us know it), at which the editors of the various sections of the news operation sit. Practically-speaking, this now means that the heads of news, pictures, video, etc. are all in direct contact with each other throughout the day, and can therefore take a joined-up approach to covering stories.
Opportunities remain
Despite the ever-broader range of content news outlets are offering to their readers, Jonathan admitted that he doesn’t feel the PR community has fully adapted to the multimedia approach to news. Reporters now welcome opportunities to cover a story in different ways, such as through video clips, high-quality pictures or audio interviews.
Often a basic press release is all they get, however.
Transforming an announcement into a multimedia story doesn’t have to be as time-consuming or expensive as it sounds. The PA has its own team of video reporters, and prefers to use the footage they take as opposed to b-roll clips that are available to everybody. The best way to support this is to provide advance notice if you are planning a big announcement or event where spokespeople or other points of interest will be available. The same principle applies to the use of infographics to bring a stat-heavy story to life. Instead of relying on organisations to supply these, the PA has the resources to create them itself, provided that the PR team can share the raw data in good time.