It is true the Internet is rapidly growing, and as it grows with new Web 2.0 media and public relations practices other traditional media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines are drastically decreasing.
It seems people and companies alike are tailoring any type of information like pubic relations, advertising and news to what they want and to what concerns them.
Advertising Age editor Jonah Bloom highlights how public relations is ‘slowly, but systematically seeing the destruction of journalism’ as its fundamental structure has been overtaken by competition through social media, aka Web 2.0.
Today’s market is so segmented that people are exposed to what Jonah refers to as ‘news and views they already agree with,’ offering no diversity of information, reinforcing and not demanding other perspectives, which as a consequence can lead to laziness and a limited scope of the world and company products.
It seems new public relation practices and mediums are all about Personalisation! Personalisation! Personalisation!
Mr. Bloom poses what I believe to be a very important question of debate; ‘Do you really want to be working with a herd of poodles following fewer stories and rarely challenging the establishment?’
But wait! What does this mean for PR professionals?
Katerina James (2006) describes how the PR industry will be drastically affected by online journalism. In particular she focuses on blogging and what more technology savvy individuals call the ‘blogosphere’.
Blogging is a big part of the Internet, enabling audiences to express their personal opinions and post ‘news’ stories about clients. However, they share not only the positive but also the negative stories about an organisation by utilising mainstream media outlets.
Ms. James argues that PR professionals need to establish new modes of crisis management techniques through accessing the ‘counter-culture’ provided in blogs.
A prime example of the shift in traditional journalism over recent years to citizen journalism is the horrific 2005 London bombings. We saw ordinary people become cameramen and reporters using unconventional media such as mobile phones and social networking sites to publish content and images over the Internet during and after the attacks. It was very confronting, as the material was raw and not just from a third person perspective but from a first person viewpoint as well.
Julia Day and Chris Johnston from The Guardian (2005) report, "Within minutes of the first blast we had received images from the public and we had 50 images within an hour. Now there are thousands. We had a gallery of still photographs from the public online, and they were incredibly powerful."
This new dimension on media coverage in all media leads to the question; will traditional journalism and the blogosphere ever integrate enough to compliment each other in order to allow audiences to receive ‘the best’ of both worlds?
Day, J., & Johnston, C. (2005, July 15). Public Provides New Dimension To Media Coverage. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/jul/08/attackonlondon.digitalmedia
James, K. (2006, June 27). Citizen Media or the Death of Journalism? Retrieved April 17, 2010, from Behind the Spin - Public Relations: Students + Practitioners + Academics: http://publicsphere.typepad.com/behindthespin/2006/06/citizen_media_o.html
I personally don't put any credence in the arguments that Internet blogs, media and opinion pieces are destroying journalism. I think social media and web 2.0 are positive tools.
ReplyDeleteUnprofessional blogs and media pieces are not going to replace professional journalism, because they are apples and oranges. People are smart enough to distinguish between the two. These unprofessional blogs and media pieces are very important in terms of viewing people's opinions, challegning media contentions and sharing information during emergencies or disasters.
There will always be a market for professional journalists, people will pay to view highly edited and researched material. Professional journalits are hardly perfect, it must be considered, and do often lie or twist the truth.
Additionally, just as professional journalists get their start by practising writing and sending in their portfolio to employers, professional journalists can get their start by submitting articles online. There are professional journalists who do make a living working online, or who publish their articles online.
Traditional media outlets may lose a bit of money, but much more money will be gained by new businesses that harness the internet as a medium to share work. Professional journalism is safe.
Grish
What I'm trying to say Grish is that any blogger can make up a fictional story with some facts encompassed into the content in order to pass it off as 'truth' or 'fact' as there are no journalistic regulatory bodies or rules established for the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteI also make the point that through the customisation and personalisation of the Internet and public relations messages people are only surrounding themselves with view points they already believe in and not allowing for other perspectives or ideals to cross their path and challenge theirs.
For instance, at one stage news was primarily received solely through newspapers. This meant that not only were audiences exposed to the weather but also sections they probably would not have interested them or they would have selected to read such as the sports. However, they read it because it is there and out of curiosity and they develop a larger understanding of the world and different subject matters.
Jessica
That is a good point Jessica.
ReplyDeleteI think the capability is there to be enriched by informal blogs and posts on the net, if people avoid the trap of searching out only content they are predisposed to.
Grish
I agree with this.
ReplyDeleteI would like to inform that I recently came across a site called amgw agency who is not only providing the services in public relation but, they are also providing the services in print, tv, radio too.
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Great PR tips, I really liked how you mentioned working with the "blog counter-culture." My company provides PR services in Salem MA, and we've found that to be important.
ReplyDelete