PR Professionals vs. Journalists: Overcoming the Dark Side
by Laura Kelley

One of the most common questions we get from people trying to make headway with reporters is, “How do you become friends with the media?” That’s one of the hardest jobs for any marketing and PR professional. If it were as easy as bringing in chocolate covered doughnuts and lattes to our friendly morning news team, we’d have a much easier time of it and the news media would all be obese by now. Alas, the media is cynical and suspicious especially when it comes to PR experts (commonly referred to by journalists as “the dark side” or “flacks”). Take it from someone who knows, because I was one of those cynical, suspicious media personalities. After working with and in the media for years, there are some harsh truths about how the media views the PR World and how to overcome some of the hurdles.

1. The DELETE button is a reporter’s best friend. It gets rid of hundreds of pesky press releases every single day.  Why are journalists so quick to pull the trigger? In a modern newsroom, including the ones I worked in, it wasn’t uncommon for me to come in each morning to see more than 900 unread emails in my Inbox. Each person in the newsroom gets not only his/her personal email, but also every single email and newstip sent to the newsroom. For the media, it’s a safety net so that they don’t miss breaking news, for PR people it’s a curse. Bottom line, if you’re going to send something out, it better be important, it better be timely, and it better really be “news”.   If not, your press release is going to end up in the Cyber Space junkyard.

2. Unless you have world changing news (and by that I mean a cure for cancer, the discovery of Atlantis etc…) the media does not want to talk to you on the phone. How many times have you heard, “I don’t have time to talk, just send me an email?” Are the media being jerks when they say that…maybe sometimes, but that’s usually because you’re the 20^th PR person to harass them that morning. Truth is, they ARE too busy to talk to you. The landscape of being a journalist has changed drastically over the last decade. Today, everyone in the newsroom is required to not only do their normal job, but also to Tweet, to Facebook, to blog, to edit, to shoot, and to voice their own stories in real time and ahead of the competition. Whether it’s television, print, or online journalists, everyone is doing the job of 10 people these days so sometimes they really will get to your email, they’re just under a lot of pressure.  If you respect this and acknowledge it, they’re more likely to respond to you in a positive way.

3. Check the news before you send out a release or make ANY calls. Just because it’s sunny and 80 degrees in Los Angeles does not mean it’s a picnic in Texas too. You would think that checking the local and national news before pitching a story would be a “no- brainer.” You would THINK. I’m brought back to the time I was working in a Denver newsroom during one of the worst tornadoes in the state’s history. As reports of death and destruction were coming in from all over, and as I was trying to put together an hour long special with eight reporters, I received no less than nine phone calls from PR experts trying to pitch me stories that had nothing to do with breaking news. Did I mention that three of these account executives actually lived in Denver? Needless to say I, and everyone else in the newsroom, was less than amused.

4. Reporters and producers have long memories.  Many journalists have a PR Blacklist (I had one) and that goes for both individuals and companies. The old adage, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me,” applies in many newsrooms. Don’t promise a reporter something you can’t deliver especially since most media have already been soured by PR world. If you say you can get someone for an interview be ready to deliver that immediately when asked. Once you send a pitch out, the media might want the interview to take place an hour later. If you can’t make that happen, you and your company could very likely end up on that journalist’s list of PR professionals never to trust. On the flip slide, if you can deliver your story promise, your relationship has been built; that reporter will start coming to you when they need resources especially if you deliver for them and the station/publication consistently.

Bottom line in all of this is that it takes time to build relationships with the media, but once you’ve done it, it’s the most valuable asset you can have in PR. There are thousands of PR professionals, but only a handful that understand the media, how it works, and who can speak to journalists effectively and gain their respect. If you can present yourself to a journalist like a journalist rather than a PR expert that has never set foot in a newsroom, you’re going to be better off.

Building relationships like this has helped us get real results for our clients. Now, when we pitch outlets like Fox News, the New York Times, and CNN, journalists take us seriously and listen to what we have to offer. More important, when you can deliver product consistently for the media, reporters are going to be happier with you and, while they’ll always refer to PR as “the dark side” you very well could be the one shining light they can depend on for great results.