Media Relations

What is it?

The media is a part of our lives whether we like it or not. We are influenced by the media even if we try to stay away from it. The media can make or break you. They take it to the extreme, and usually advertise the worse news. Some people say that even bad media is good media. But the thing is, in the business setting it can ruin your reputation and the trust that your constituents have in your business.

Media Relations is a very important aspect of a business. If you do not have a good relationship with the media the media can tear your business apart. Your reputation can be ruined on the spot just by a simple interview.

How to Create Relationships with Media

To build better relationships with the media, organizations must take the time to create meaningful relationships with the right people in the media. To do this someone should be hired for the organization as the media relations coordinator. This person will be the representation of the organization. This is the face that the media always sees, the person who knows all the answers and if they do not know the answers they know how to avoid or redirect the question into a positive light. This media relation coordinator must have a personality and look that is attractive to an audience. They need to be able to talk in public well.

It is good to have lasting relationships. These lasting relationships can be a positive in the future. The contacts you make will trust you to be fair, they will let you pick people for interviewing and not go behind your back to sabotage if that relationship is solid.

Interviews

The representation for an interview must prepare. They must prepare in various ways. They must have a put together look, their hair should be flawless, their clothes the right color, size and texture, and (if a woman) their make-up touched up. Just the physical look of this person can cause uproar by the media. If you are watching someone on T.V. representing a company and they look like they are not put together, than the company will seem not put together. You will not be hearing the words they are saying but you will only be thinking about their outward appearance.

The words you use can be interpreted in various ways. You must choose the right words, with the right grammar when in an interview. Silence is good in an interview, you must make sure you are not letting the silence get to you and filling it with unneeded information.

Experiences

When I work swim camp our first week is a week of rules upon rules upon rules. One of the big rules is not to talk to the media if a problem where to arise. Our boss told us a story about another swim camp that went up in flames because of an incident, and how the media destroyed the camps reputation. The story was that some counselors were consuming alcohol in the dorm where they live with the kids. One of the kids needed help one night and he could not get the attention of the counselors because they locked their intoxicated selves into a room away from the kids. The media got a hold of the story the next day, and the entire community was in an uproar. The director of the camp was not ready for the media to attack their reputation; he did not know how to handle the situation. This just goes to show that in any organization they must be ready to answer to the media if needed.

With my GA position, I am told that if there is any NCAA investigation I am not to say a word; the Athletic Advisor is our media relation coordinator. It is not my job to talk to outside sources. My job is to tell my story to the AD and he will relay the message to the media unless there is a specific investigation with myself directly involved.

Other links:

This link goes into detail, just like the book about the operation of media relations. It goes through the steps needed and every aspect involved. This helped me out in creating the information in my blog.

http://www.porternovelli.co.nz/media/ns9/35_1977_2894.pdf

This link is to a blog. The blog asks questions about media relations and then people that have real like examples answer and give their advice. This is a good way to get real experienced examples.

http://wordpress.com/tag/media-relations-strategy/