PR pros, editors now partners in news Earlier this year the Chicago Public Relations Society invited our editor, Don Kopriva, to sit on a discussion panel with the news editors from the Daily Herald, Naperville Sun and Daily Southtown. I was the panel moderator. Our audience was comprised primarily of public relations professionals from throughout the Chicago area, though most of them worked in the suburbs. The mission of the panel was for the editors to let the PR pros know how best to work with them in getting their clients’ stories published. This is nothing new. I sat on a similar panel in 1977. And, I’m sure that journalists and PR professionals have been getting together like this for as long as there have been newspapers. I noted one primary change in the relationship from my early years in the newspaper business. Editors and reporters finally admit that they need the public relations industry to fill their news holes. They view them as partners in the news business. It hasn’t always been this way. When I started my news career in 1970 at the City News Bureau of Chicago and then at the Chicago Tribune, reporters looked askance at PR people referring to them as “flaks.” There was a suspicion by every reporter that a flak was only there to spin the story in favor of their client. Reporters would not accept quotes from anyone other than the primary business executive who could speak for a company or industry. It was an unwritten rule that anything submitted by a PR agency that met our news requirements, must be rewritten regardless of how well it was written by its original author. “I can’t talk to you right now. I’m on deadline,” was the usual response from a reporter to a PR pro. What they really meant was: “I’m not interested.” On the panel with me in 1977 was the business columnist, Joe Cappo, then writing for the old Chicago Daily News. After the Daily News folded a year later Joe spent the remainder of his career with Crain’s Chicago Business. Joe told the audience that he rarely used any story ideas from the PR industry. Joe was somewhat of a star in the industry at that time, so his comments had a lot of impact. I think I was little less blunt, but probably echoed his sentiments somewhat. But I do recall that it got me to thinking shortly afterwards that I really had been led to many good stories by the PR folks. As time went on I developed a much greater appreciation for them and their craft. We wouldn’t even drink with the flaks. Ricardo’s was the upscale bar that the PR people could afford. Reporters were more comfortable drinking the draft beer at Billy Goat’s on lower Michigan Avenue. But, the world has changed. The editors on our panel this year were basically begging the audience to feed them stories. “Our staffs have been cut so dramatically,” one of the editors said, “that we literally cannot fill our news holes without your involvement.” Her associates on the panel agreed. News staffs not only have to provide news for the printed product, but everyone now has a web site or other Internet product. For instance, The Business Ledger prints every other week while our e-mailed “Business Edge” newsletter is published twice a week. Our web site is updated daily. There’s more to do and fewer people to do it. There are more businesses to cover today, more business organizations and business activities. Partnerships are crucial. But, there is some work involved. It used to be that the PR person’s job consisted of little more than being more of a “tipster.” They could count on the reporters doing the bulk of the work. I am asked constantly “how do we get in the paper?” My answer is, “it’s easier than ever, but you do have to do a lot of the work.” With the 24-hour news cycle and pervasive media outlets, we have all gotten more media savvy than ever. Blogs and so-called “citizen journalism” have created many more reporters and news sources than ever before. Editors are often publishing copy and photos as submitted as long as they meet professional standards. Editors get as many as a couple hundred e-mails a day. They can’t possibly read them all and make good qualified decisions about each one. It’s humanly impossible. So it’s the job of the PR professional to help make that job easier and the reward is that they get a lot more attention paid to their story. Contact publisher Jim Elsener at jelsener@thebusinessledger.com or at 630-428-8788.

Posted on Monday, October 06, 2008 (Archive on Monday, October 13, 2008) Posted by jstoltz  Contributed by jstoltz

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