PR’s Climate Change: The Future of Media Relations (Updated)
(In February I wrote about how most people think PR is 100% media relations. This 100% has changed or has to change in people’s minds. An upcoming book by Scott Baradelli helps to flesh out this idea. Read an excerpt here. Original blog post follows).
The tendency would be to title a post like this “Is Media Relations Dead?” or “Is PR” Dead?” You can google either one—-it’s not an original idea. And it’s (obviously) clickbait.
The better question is what role does media relations play in the practice of PR in the coming years?
The question is pertinent now for two reasons.
First, people are reading and viewing legacy media less. Therefore, media relations has less impact.
Your bosses often love this if they don’t want to talk to the media anyway. They say “nobody reads the newspaper anymore.”
Nobody might be a little strong, but you might try a little experiment and ask people who aren’t in PR if they saw a story in the paper. Or, send them a link and have them tell you they can’t open it. Or, look on Next Door and see how many questions people ask which were answered in the paper or on TV that day.
The stats from Pew Research bear it out.
Trust in Media is Down, too
There’s a bigger issue now. Trust in the media is way down. We were in media relations for the third-party validation in the first place, so doesn’t this render it somewhat moot?
The Edelman Trust Index released recently has the backup here.
67% of respondents are “more convinced we’re being lied to by the news media.” (Emphasis added).
There’s a political chasm, but even among Democrats, trust in the media is only 55%.
Media reports are viewed as less believable than something your employer tells you.
We haven’t found the bottom yet. Trust in media in the US fell 6% in the last year, to 39%, which is the 7th lowest in the world among studied countries.
So what role does media relations play in the practice of PR in the coming years?
Ian Bruce in PR Week took this topic on. While noting that agencies are trying to pivot to brand journalism and content marketing, he said…
““…there remains a relentless focus on a media relations agenda modeled on the traditional mass communications model long obsolete. When we talk to clients about managing their PR programs, and what KPIs they have, it often becomes a discussion about ‘hits’ and reach, or of executive vanity metrics.””
So, what does the practice of PR look like if that model is “obsolete.” I concur with how Bianchi PR answered the question—which was to point their readers to the PESO model.
PESO, you say?
PESO is from Spin Sucks and is the leading model for brand communications in use today. Allow me to explain.
Here is what most people think PR is.
(A friend told me once that his news friends used to ask
what we did “between the press conferences.”)
Of course, we know better. Here is the reality, as described in the PESO model, which stands for “Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned.”
Media relations was always a tool in the tool box. It’s just going to be a tool that is less useful than it was before.
I’d add a couple of thoughts.
Media Relations provides SEO benefits
Yes, “nobody” reads the paper. But everyone Googles. And media hits about your brand are treated with great credibility in Google’s Search results. They form an immediate impression of your story on page one of your search results. A bad story never goes away and neither does a good story.
Media Relations Can Help Build Momentum
In today’s world, people believe that when something makes them feel good, it is a fact. When it doesn’t make them feel good, it isn’t a fact. If you carry that forward to the practice of media relations, then media relations will not be effective changes people’s minds—telling them the hard truths, convincing them you have changed, etc. What it can be useful for is helping to reinforce what people think or even build on it. We can use it to energize our existing energy but it is less useful in turning the ship around. (For more on how media relations plays into overall reputation management program, see our ultimate guide.)
Last caveat
I don’t relish this. I truly believe in the importance of vibrant news media in the health of our Democracy. And I love to read great journalism. But communicators cannot afford to ignore these realities. We must communicate in platforms that are relevant to our stakeholders.