A PR Perspective: How To Live and Work With Journalists
Two of my roommates are journalism majors and my third roommate and I are public relations majors. So what does this mean? Can the two really live together in peace and harmony? Yes. Although, not all the time, I have to admit. We can get in each other’s hair, but just like everyone else, we can live and work together if we acknowledge our similarities and differences.
To the untrained eye, public relations, marketing, and advertising are all the same thing. It is true that they are related, but in no way are they the same. The same is true for public relations and journalism. They are similar in a lot of ways, but are overall different.
Much like my roommates, public relations personnel and journalists must work together for the relationship to be mutually beneficial.
Ways PR and journalism are the same
PR and journalism are similar in that they both want to provide the public with news. Personnel in both fields are highly experienced and professional writers. On a day to day level, they both live fast-paced lifestyles with stressful deadlines.
Most importantly, we are all people. We need to respect each other's deadlines and the quality and quantity of information that we send. My roommates have deadlines. They have to get to class in the morning and me knocking on the bathroom door 5 times isn't going to help move that process along more quickly. They got your message.
Ways PR and journalism are different
Seemingly similar, PR and journalism have different writing objectives. The ultimate goal of a journalist is to provide the public with truthful, objective information that they need to know. Whereas PR’s ultimate goal is to change the perception, attitude or feelings toward their client. This however, does not mean that PR professionals are liars or that they are misrepresenting the truth in any way.
Yes, my roommates and I are all college aged girls, but not only are we different majors, we all come from different places. Not everyone is going to be just like you- and that's okay!
How to live and work together
If these differences are acknowledged, then these two worlds can become one. If journalists understand PR objectives and PR personnel provide quality press releases, the public will ultimately get the information that they need. Journalists' jobs will be less hectic because they will be able to use releases that they receive and PR personnel will be able to successfully get their clients name into the public's homes.
PR pros and journalists both need to voice their concerns. If journalists do not like follow-up emails or phone calls, express that and I'm sure expectations will be met.
Good PR pros know what is newsworthy and what isn't. Save everyone time and only pitch good ideas to journalists. Save yourself the hassle of having to stretch the impact that your company had at an event that no one cared about. You don't want to hurt your relationship with a journalist by providing irrelevant information.
So how do my roommates and I do it? We communicate! Communicating what times we have to be at class and how long it will take us to get ready allows for us both to be on time.
A happy journalist is a happy PR pro!
Jaclyn Ermoyan, Administrative Assistant | Jaclyn is currently a sophomore at Grand Valley State University pursuing a major in Advertising and Public Relations and minors in Public and Nonprofit Administration. Along with her first semester in GrandPR, Jaclyn is working at the GVSU Career Center maintaining their social media and assisting with their marketing efforts. She has a passion for planning for the future and building a professional reputation. She is always looking to learn and apply lessons to better her life. She loves to innovate, create, and to problem solve. She hopes to find a job in either an advertising agency or a public relations firm. This summer, she will be working as a Brand and Business Model Public Relations Intern at Amway.