Those who work in the media are well aware of the caricatured relationship between journalists and PR practitioners. Most of the time it seems that people see it as a ‘love / hate’ thing – or sometimes more of a ‘hate / hate’ relationship. There have been several blog posts, articles and even fake twitter feeds dedicated to this relationship.
Recently I’ve spent a lot of time pitching client news and events to national newspaper journalists – surely the most intimidating and difficult to please of all! But the experience is actually proving to be pretty fun. With some interesting news relating to the Olympics, and carefully planned pitches aimed at just the right people, we’re enjoying a series of successes in coverage and events attendance.
Which got me thinking – the PR / journalist relationship gets too much of a bad name, and perhaps it’s time I actually did something to help ensure that I didn’t lose out as a result. So I took a deep breath, called @Chei Amlani at the Telegraph in the Olympics team, and asked if I could see what happens behind the scenes. Yes, a PR asking to be let behind the fortress-like walls of a major national newspaper to wreak havoc. But they said yes – great – when did I want to come? What were they thinking? Letting in a PR – with all those questions? As it happened, through the client work with Panasonic that I’m involved in, I had a lot of interesting things to say to them too.
Some of my learnings from the day were similar to those that Peggy found when she met with Robin Elias. Many do sound obvious, like pitch to the right person, make press releases clear and concise and only pick up the phone to follow up if it is actually relevant. They may be really simple but if we can do our bit to make journalists lives a bit easier it could help change the stereotypical relationship.
Another key take away from the day is just how much pressure and scrutiny there is within journalism. The office layout really struck me, which I know sounds odd. But there is something about having big screens around the office with news headlines flashing up and a team performance monitoring system that really appealed to me – as long as you are in the winning team. Maybe not one to have in the Catalysis office – too many competitive people here.
This day proved to me I‘m definitely an observational learner – I need to walk a mile in someone’s shoes to understand what it is they really do. At the end of my time at the Telegraph, and after a lovely lunch, I realised that the relationship between PRs and journalists is a lot more equal than I first thought. PRs need journalists to help reach the media and inform them of client messages and pressurised journalists need PRs to get good stories, spokespeople, news and updates.
I hope the guys at the Telegraph – who so kindly showed me round and answered my questions – feel that they’ve got a better working relationship with one of their contacts. I know I have. And most importantly I’ve walked away feeling very empowered, knowing that as a PR practitioner I’m actually a key link in the news chain. I’ll know I’ve really made it though when a journalist phones me up and asks to shadow me for the day…