Comments on: Where the dark side really lies

By: Using social media for crisis communication | Bluegrass Consulting: Grassroots Public Affairs

Thu, 06 May 2010 04:16:38 +0000

[...] But that’s the good news! The flip side is that, as Laurel Papworth has observed, social media has a ripple effect. It allows for news to spread – yes, that burning metaphor again – like wildfire. And nothing sells quite like bad news. [...]

By: Ex-journalists should not be the boss of PR | Public relations and managing reputation

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:50:00 +0000

[...] are also typically negative, prioritising discussions on bad news. PR pros do flag the negative with our organisations, but our focus is on building mutually [...]

By: Henry A. de La Garza, APR

Henry A. de La Garza, APR — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:50:44 +0000

I was the news producer of the top rated newscast for a network affiliate TV station in a major Texas media market. That was back in the days when tv news actually generated the lion’s share of all station revenues. My news director’s policy was, “It bleeds, it leads.” We had ample Nielson ratings to support that news policy.

Thanks for your thoughts – they are very well taken here in Houston.

Henry

By: Matt Conens

Matt Conens — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:12:59 +0000

While you make a good point overall, I do disagree with some of the things you said.
Just a few quick thoughts (please forgive any typos)

The Greeks, Shakespeare, etc., knew that conflict creates a good story and that still exists in what we read/watch, because it is what we like to read/watch.
Stories without conflict shouldn’t even be called stories. It’s impossible to have a happy ending (which people love) without some conflict/uncertainty before it.
The only people who don’t want conflict are those who use the media for vanity. I.e, parents wanting to see their kids soccer team on TV and PR professionals wanting to show some results to their clients.
Look at the news stories that win Pulitzers, Emmys and AP. Those stories may have had a PR professional involved but I doubt they came from a news release (unless it’s a feature story).

Bad news is good for the news business. It’s tragic, but true. Check the ratings for tv news during war vs during peace. News is the unusual, with the usual being normal/good.

I think the broadcast and print news would survive w/o PR. As a former reporter I did countless stories that didn’t involve a news release or a professional spokesperson. Those stories which had conflict and emotion, were generally those that turned out best.
PR can help facilitate a story but a good reporter needs to use the PR element (in the same way the PR person uses the media)
A PR person knows that if there is conflict it means that something is out of control … which is not good for the client. And the client is what matters, in much the same way ratings matter for broadcasters and readers matter for print.

While I can’t disagree with journalists appreciating the work of PR folks, we need to remember that PR folks need to appreciate the media. Because with out reporters and news organizations, clients would have to actually buy media time/space.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:32:36 +0000

Love your work, Jonathan. You are of course spot on re conflict. Might have to explore that one further in a future post. In many cases I agree with your point re PR deflating conflict. However, you will find many public relations professionals subscribe to the notion that driving a narrative forward is, in fact, a key part of their role. What organisations are constantly challenged by, however, is the notion of embracing conflict. There are a range of reasons why there is value in this, but for another time…

By: Jonathan Bennett

Jonathan Bennett — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:49:31 +0000

I agreed with much of what you said here. The other way of looking at this PR v. media / Good v. bad news paradox is through the lense of narrative theory. A story needs conflict to fuel a reader/viewer’s interest–how will this end? Who’s at fault etc.? When reporting, a journalist tells a kind of story (which hopefully contains facts). The story needs conflict for it to be interesting (which in turn generates letters to the ed, or “hits” or sells ad space etc). But conflict in of itself (which is what headlines are, for example), just mostly appears negative. Hence much of what journalists do seems (and is) negative. Whereas PR doesn’t tell stories as much. Actually, PR mostly deflates stories by lessening real or perceived conflict. One could go on, but the journalists are calling…

By: Dr Reb

Dr Reb — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:54:58 +0000

Well said Craig. Not a day goes by when the deep knowledge provided by communication counsel informs complex media issues to the benefit of social, cultural and democratic debate. Very thoughtful post – thank you.