The changing landscape of the newsroom
Social media has changed journalism irrevocably, and there’s no going back to the good ol’ days – which never existed anyway. The loss of advertising revenue has slashed editorial budgets permanently.
Fewer journalists are expected to do more in less time with increasingly constrained resources, with the constant pressure to produce unique stories twice a day, every day.
So these constantly pressurised journalists are being asked to somehow develop gravitas and authority while simultaneously having less time in which to do thorough research and then think about whether the dots join.
Social media has also changed journalism in a more fundamental way.
These days, the relentless pace and seemingly endless capacity for content – of whatever quality – means that fact-checking runs a poor second to meeting deadlines.
Worryingly though opinion can pass as solid fact if it’s whispered loudly enough, and often enough. While social media is now ubiquitous, that does not mean the various outlets are trustworthy.
All these factors combine to increase the importance of accurate media releases which have done at least some of the work that overstretched journalists are trying to do.
Facing up to Facebook
These days Facebook is increasingly driving traffic to news sites. According to the social media giant itself, referrals to news media sites rose 170 per cent in 2013 and in response Facebook has recalibrated its news feed after finding that, of its 12 million Australian users, 4.8 million (40 per cent) users regularly post news articles.
This means that more than one-third (33 per cent) of users regularly stay up to date with current events through Facebook.
In the Deloitte global survey of December 2013, social media was seen as the biggest technology disrupter to reputation by 300 of the world’s top companies.
It also found that almost half of CEOs identify social media as transforming reputation management more than other technologies such as analytics, mobile applications and cyber-attacks.
Associated with these rapid changes in the online space are concerns from businesses over the speed at which social media works and the potential loss of control over it.
These days any news, especially damaging news, spreads like the speed of light, reaches a much wider audience easily and stays on record digitally for longer.
So the question becomes whether traditional approaches to media response are valid in this new world. Even in an environment where economic conditions remain tough and technology threatens business models, companies are placing reputation at the top of their strategic risk agenda.
More than half of the surveyed companies believe technology enablers and disrupters such as social, mobile, and big data could threaten their established business models, and 91 per cent have changed their business strategies since those technologies began to emerge.
What’s hot, what’s not
The three Rs of getting journalists’ attention are relevance, research and readability.
- Relevance is the most important reason for almost all journalists (98 per cent according to NewsMaker’s publisher, Leila Henderson) for choosing to chase a story. Is this story relevant to my outlet’s readers? Why? How will this news affect their lives?
- Research is number 2 on the ‘get your media release read’ hit charts, with 91 per cent of journalists saying research and stats to support claims are important. However, beware of client-funded research that screams product-flog. Research must be done by independent third parties, with remuneration arrangements clearly disclosed. Universities are seen – by most journalists – as the most reliable sources of research, followed by government agencies, ASIC 100 companies, SMEs, and then market research companies.
- Readability gets your release over the line for 85 per cent of journalists – good grammar and punctuation seem to promise that the rest of the content has been checked and re-checked. Journalists are almost equally divided as to whether a story needs an unusual angle or a twist – the news should stand or fall on its own merits: it doesn’t need to be tricked up or tortured in to a so-called interesting angle.
More importantly, a story needs enough complexity to justify chasing it – and to get past the editor’s ‘delete’ key.
To get your copy of our FREE ebook ‘Public Relations and Social Media for Financial Services’ simply email chris@chstrategies.com.au.