By: Mohamed Firdaus bin Mohamed Noor
Media relations have been around us for ages and it evolves day by day until what we have now. From printed press to electronic media, all these medium of information play a big role in the media relations.This article the future of media relations written by James L. Horton revolving around what the media relations will become in the next 5 years. Of course the article was written in 2005 and now we are in 2011 and we already tasted what Horton had expected.
In the article, Horton outlines FOUR main areas that are critical to media relations changes. Those four areas are - how we work, how we communicate, the environment in which we communicate and legal issues.
Horton stresses out that ‘how we work’ will be the one area those media relations practitioners will continue to experience as the time changes. In 2005, the practitioners already familiar with e - mail, instant messaging, digital imaging, webcasts, online databases and such. Plus, there are other technological things such as engine optimization, RSS (Really Simple Syndication), peer-to-peer file sharing (beyond music and video), web measurement, digital film-making; integrated marketing, online collaboration, VOIP and independent publishing of text. Here in 2005 itself the practitioners already face decisions about how to incorporate these buzz words into their work.
Changes in work habits have been evolutionary but inexorable. These new media tools can help the practitioners to do their work better and faster. Horton said that the next five years will be continual evolution of what has happened for the last 20 years. In the 1980s – a practitioner needed a personal assistant to get press kits out, word process letters and do media follow-up. Today, the practitioner does that work. Ratios of assistants to practitioners used to be 1:1, then 1:2, 1:3, 1:7 and now, none at all. This shows that this technological advancement helps the practitioners to do their work efficiently and without the help of the assistant. This will make the headcount of the public relations practitioners in a department remain small.
According to the author, there are three environments in which technological shifts will change how media relations practitioners practice their craft – large communications businesses with media relations units, independent PR firms and internal media relations. These three environments are important and the practitioners have to have good knowledge and be ready with the changes that come. Eventhough there will be changes in the technology and the future, there are few skills such as news writing, news judgment, telephone and in-person presentation skills that are essential to the practitioners that will blend with the old and new abilities.
The largest shift, as this article is written, is the move of traditional media toward online and the uncertainty this move is causing to media business models. This shift changes the way practitioners work with the media and the shift also make room for immediacy. The consumers nowadays become more demanding. Apart from that, the shift also makes one important trend in communications of content which is cost. The internet has practically collapsed the cost of publishing. Anyone can publish anything online and can have the whole world to read it. Another trend is the news - on - demand, where anyone can view, watch and look for news whenever they want and in any format that they desire.
With all these changes, the practitioners will remain working with the reporters online for the most part because it is the fastest and easiest contact method. Media relations practitioners will have more responsibilities with the archives and the use of newsroom will widen accordingly with the technology.
The future will revolve around the online technology and many traditional ways of communication and presentation will change and there will be legal issues surrounding the internet. Privacy and security together with copyright will be the main issue with the online world. Lastly, fraud and abuse will be the issues that media relations will have problem with. Faux publications and self-appointed “critics” will appear online. Most of the time, these people can be cleaned out, but not always.
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