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WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

_{PART III}

UNIT

_ONE

_A.

A major purpose of many public relations programs is to provide news and infor­mation to the media in the hope that it will be published or broadcast. The resulting coverage is called publicity. The public relations writer who writes and places stories in the media is commonly referred to as a publicist, although most public relations firms and corporations don't use the term in official job titles. The term "publicist" or "press agent" is more common in the entertainment industry, but the role in the communica­tion industry is the same.

Media Coverage and Barriers to it

The purpose of media coverage, from an organization's standpoint, goes beyond just news and information. Publicity is designed to advance the organization's goals. This may be to create favorable attitudes and opinions about the organization, its products, or its services. In many cases, publicity is strongly marketing oriented and designed to generate sales.

There are several barriers to getting publicity in the media. Some of them are as

follows:

1. Publicity Versus Advertising. Reporters and editors ultimately decide whether an organization's information qualifies as news and is worthy of being published or broadcast. They may choose to change the order of the information, delete parts of it, or even completely rewrite it. Thus a two-page news release from a company may be published as a full story, a one-paragraph news item, or not at all. Advertising copy has no such barrier. The organization buys the space in which the advertisement will run, and the ad appears exactly as submitted. The material is handled by the advertising or sales department of the newspapers or broadcast station, not the news department.