New Directions in Public & Media Relations

Once upon a stone age, there were only a comparatively few major media that conscientious public relations practitioners could use to reach their target audiences with any certainty: magazines, newspapers, radio and television.

The professionals who staffed these media were often referred to as "gate keepers" because they pretty much controlled whether a PR practitioner's offering was "newsworthy" enough to interest their audience/s and therefore had earned the right to appear in public. In return for giving up this control, PR practitioners gladly settled for being able to espouse the strength and purity of "third party credibility." And then came along a new era - The Emergence of "New/Emerging" Media – and blogs are just one of the many channels.

Traditionalists argue that many of the "citizen journalists" manning various "new" media can hardly claim the same experience, objectivity and credibility as a traditional print or electronic journalist. So their output often tends to lack objectivity and "third party credibility."

Instead of waiting patiently for the scheduled evening/ morning newscast or print run, the public has developed a crushing need to access news and information practically before it exists, and so there is a growing dash - particularly in the younger age brackets so precious to clients - to find out what's new or breathtaking as quickly as possible via the thousands/millions of blogs, podcasts, social network sites and other "new" media that mushroom exponentially on a daily basis.

Say what you will about new media – it is here to stay – and perhaps it’s time we took matters into out hands and begin disseminating what’s newsworthy the best and most accurate way we know how.