These weeks readings focussed on the importance of practitioners being able to write to the highest standard – not just when writing the media release but also when writing letters to the client. These articles emphasise that if a student can write to high standards for different mediums and publics they will enhance their success as practitioners – also developing relationships with journalists.
The first of the readings studied the inter-relationships of journalists and public relation practitioners. The concept of framing theory was particularly interesting in this article. This theory suggests that “practitioners familiar with media processes can most effectively frame a story for targeted journalists; the closer the correspondence between the practitioner’s subsidy and the journalist’s story expectations, the greater the probability of placement.” This was seen as key in the article in that it states that research suggests that practitioner’s success in placing subsidies with news media to influence the media agenda - in turn influencing public opinion – and the public agenda.
Interesting points that the study raised was journalist’s view of the field of public relations. For instance within the interviews conducted by students journalists complained that public relation practitioners lack news sense and values, accuracy, timeliness and style of presentation. In addition to this the article noted that practitioners are “unabashedly biased” and have a “poor quality of writing”.
The article establishes that stereotypes surrounding practitioners have not diminished within journalistic circles. Journalists perceive practitioners to spread misinformation and withhold detrimental information. Over all this article indicates that practitioners – particularly those wishing to enter the field must work harder to sharpen their framing skills to maximise the benefits of framing theory. In doing this they must consider and adhere to both PR and journalistic standards to take enhance the success for their organisations.
The following readings discuss the standards of writing necessary in the field of public relations, so that students can develop and shape their writing before they enter the field. The first article titled “The Importance of Writing” – and explores this concept in regards to those practitioners who work for an agency. The article argues that in order to be employed by the client practitioners need to be the best there is to work for an agency. It argues that a practitioner’s ability to communicate messages clearly and concisely is what differentiates practitioners.
This article was interesting in that it highlights the different type of writing that students need to develop skills in, in order to make them stand out from other job applicants. Wise suggests that when studying public relations – university’s over emphasise the importance of writing a media release – where in fact skills in regards to writing for the client should be developed as this is equally –if not more important. In addition to this the article also suggests that writing for the web is also important in the new world of public relations – Wise states this requires a different style of writing than other types – including the traditional press release.
In addition to this I found it important that what sets apart practitioner’s is their ability to write for different mediums and audiences equally well. Those practitioners who can change audience or the medium they are writing for whilst still maintaining a high quality of writing will always be more successful in the field. In saying this the article does suggest that this level or quality of writing – while not being properly developed at university’s is developed throughout on the job – and quality of writing increases with experience.
The final article provides a checklist and a how to guide for writing a successful or ‘perfect’ press release. It in effect highlights the key point of both the previous articles in that it highlights how to write a press release in such a way that it meets the needs of the journalist and the final result is written to a high standard. While all ten points are useful there were two that I found particularly useful and worthy of being noted within this blog.
Point two is simple and states that within the press release a practitioner should avoid blatant commercialism – in doing this practitioners may avoid some of the stereotypes suggested by journalists in the first article and bring a sense of credibility to the field. The other point worth mentioning was point three – Don’t think one size fits all. This links in well with the second article – practitioners should always take note of the varying styles between the different formats and that practitioners should consider alternative versions of the news release in order to penetrate the different media – this should be an interesting point for the debate 3 topic.
After these readings it is evident how important writing is within the field of public relations – however students should not focus solely on writing news releases but rather develop writing skills in a variety of forms in order to maximize their success in the field.
References:
How To...Ten Steps to Press Release Perfection.( 2006). PR News. Potomac: Mar 20, 2006. 62, (12), 1.
Sallot, M. & Johnson, A. (2006). To contact … or not?: Investigating journalists’ assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences. Public Relations Review. 32(1) 83-86
Wise, K. (2005). The Importance of Writing Skills. Public Relations Quarterly. 50(2) 37.
1 comment:
Felicity
You make an imprtant point at the very end of your blog entry - developing writing skills - as each public relations practitioner will need to communicate with a varity of publics in an appropriate language and style to be an effective communicator.
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