by Leo Wiles
18 September 2015
Indulge me if you will in a nostalgic wallow, to a time when journalism was a hallowed profession where writers and editors were courted by PRs with junkets, small group launches and regular gifts accompanying media releases. Relationships were built based on trust and a good nose for news – on both sides (unless you were into the chequebook journalism of the 80s you had to wait for your sought after household name to be launching their book, cosmetic line, album, film or TV series to act as the necessary enticement to talk).
PRs represented their client and journos protected their editorial integrity and deals were made somewhere in the middle.
These days, however, there is a slew of media releases and content marketing posts that end up as editorial. This is of course due to advertising declines and mass media redundancies which has had a greater impact on journalism in Australia than many of us ever imagined. Namely, with the bean counters knocking down the church of editorial purity to make way for state demands such as advertorials, special reports and sponsored posts, in order to keep outlets afloat.
Further diminishing the power of the press is the pressure of algorithms and social media Klout put upon reporters to deliver popular content. In the US titles such as Gawker, ‘editorial’ determine staff bonuses based on the popularity of writers posts, measured by page-views and clicks. While this may not sound so different from being a team member who consistently delivers exclusives and cover stories and therefore gets promoted, a channel’s incessant online need to be fed is one pressure I thankfully never faced.
And the move away from printed material to online also saw an ever increasing demand for content to feed the 24-hour news cycle – with even less resources to deliver it. A major result being that journalists with less time to investigate, find and mold stories are growing more and more reliant on PRs than ever before. The relationship between the two has changed forever. So stop blaming PRs for the in-house erosion that allowed a flood of external communications to make it’s way into ‘editorial’ (written largely by the very journalists and subs that switched to content marketing after their severance package cleared).
Working as I do both as a PR and as a journo, I would like to offer that a continuing them and us mentality does both professions a disservice. Open, honest and transparent communications that weigh up the needs of the client with the desired outcomes for each party is the only way forward. Which is why I would like to advocate the following work practices for both sides:
PRs
1. Don’t expect editors to leave the office to spend half a day meeting your client’s team – we don’t have time.
2. Be realistic about how much coverage you can actually expect for your dog grooming client or some other niche product. If the media aren’t going to be interested in your particular hair product scientist, find a topical issue such as baldness in women in their thirties that they can be quoted on instead.
3. Please don’t ask for a forward features list as they were largely a list of feature or issue formats forced upon editors by advertising departments (that along with advertisers are now largely extinct). Instead, we use highly confidential editorial calendars and unless we have a VERY long relationship based on trust they will remain secret squirrel business.
4. Company boilerplates on the client and company should be a mandatory part of your media material – we can’t all know the in’s and out’s of what you’re pitching.
5. Include your contact details. Sure, I have it in my file somewhere but I can return your call faster if you supply it as your email signature.
6. Pitch to me, not a spammy blanket email that shows little or no regard for the title’s audience or sections.
7. Spell it out in the subject line. Caps and exclamation marks in the subject line are going to fast-track you to trash.
8. Take a hint. If I’m not calling back it’s because I have no space in the relevant issue, you missed my deadline, it doesn’t fit my editorial brief or I’m just not interested.
9. Don’t threaten me with the fact that your tracking data showed you I hadn’t opened your email – doing so is going to put you on my block list.
10.Know that as a freelancer I cannot guarantee coverage, a final say or let you vet my questions pre-interview.
11.Only utter the world exclusive when you know you can deliver it.
12.Rather than expecting me to open your attachment, put the media release in the body of the email – it saves us both time.
Journos
1. Understand that the PR has a job to do. Negotiating coverage is part and parcel of being given access.
2. Play nice. The person who has to pitch sanitary products today may have a wonderful client you will want to work in the future, so don’t burn bridges.
3. If you’re not interested say so – you’re wasting everyone’s time by leaving it on the table.
4. Be up front. If it’s only worth 300 words don’t mention that it could run to a DPS to secure the chat. You’ll only be shooting yourself in the foot.
5. As a freelancer, it is doubly important that you let the PR know the limitations of your editorial control.
6. Know that when a PR says mentioning such and such is mandatory you’re going to get a shit storm if it’s not in the final copy – this is why under the copy HEADER I’ve always put a clause: ‘SUBS pls NB that xx and xx is mandatory to the copy being run’. Obviously running this by the editor before you actually agree to the interview, otherwise you’re going to be left with a kill fee and pissed off editor if you’ve left them out of the decision-making.
7. Deadlines work both ways. If a PR says they need a piece to coincide with the launch of their client’s product or service respect that and walk away if need be.
8. Be sure that there is a story before you commit and make it clear that you will need to ask about so-and-so scandal to guarantee it will run or that the angle you are looking for is such and such. It will save a lot of hand wringing down the track when you have to explain to your editor that you can’t deliver on your pitch.
9. Remember that PRs often have far more restrictions that you do and that they’re not being pig-headed or wilful but following orders from their clients. Clients who may have little or no understanding about what the media needs or how to deliver it and still be running the show with their ill thought out demands.
Did I miss anything? How have these shifts in PR and Journo relations affected you?
