Reporting and Writing IChurnalism and PR

PR and journalists

Three scenarios

Get into three groups

Read through the scenario

Answer the questions

TodayLooking at relationship between PR and journalists

Dealing with press releases

Churnalism: Convenience, control and distortion

Scenario 1

Click icon to add picture PA puts out a news story about a man who is insured against “trauma” if England lose in the World Cup.

He stands to gain £1,000,000 if he can prove psychological damage was caused.

Convenience

Click icon to add picture Reported in May 2006 by the

BBC, The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, the Guardian online, The Times Online, The Western Mail, The Newcastle Evening Chronicle, The Hull Daily Mail and the Liverpool Echo.

Plus the Sydney Morning Herald, the Washington Post, the Malaysia Star, the Sunday Times of Zambia, the Financial Mail in South Africa…

Convenience

It wasn’t true.

The same story had run in 2002, before the World Cup in Japan / South Korea.

Hucker has also featured in stories about unemployment insurance and mortgage cover.

Nick Davies unmasked Hucker as a PR agent who was employed by insurance firms to generate publicity.

He found this out by Googling his name.

No journalist working on the story had even done this.

Basic checks

August 2011 A press release put

out by Canadian firm AptiQuant says users of Internet Explorer have lower IQs than users of Safari, Firefox and Chrome.

It said the average IQ of IE users was 80.

It was reported by the BBC, CNN, the Metro and others.

Not only was the research false, the company didn’t even exist.Its website was a photoshopped copy of a real French company’s site.

Why?

Journalism crisis

Motors, homes and jobs adverts

Cuts to reporting staff (not commercial)

Rising cover price

Fear of thin papers being bad value

Time pressureFewer reporters writing more stories.

Gap filled by PR producing “oven ready” copy.

In 2008 Britain had: 47,800 PR workers and 45,000 journalists.(Nick Davies)

Scenario 2

Click icon to add picture You are a journalist attending the Games Media Awards.

There is a competition running for journalists.

If you write a Tweet that includes “#gmadefiance” you could win a PS3

Do you enter?

Control

Games Media Awards 2012 The competition was held, and was

entered by journalists. A blogger spilled the beans It ended with defamation claims and a

debate about ethics in consumer-based journalism

Running too close to the circus

This is a tame example.

But it illustrates how PR wants to seize the perceived legitimacy of journalists, and use it to produce more effective advertising.

• By 1984, 45 out of the top 50 companies used PR agencies to deal with the media

• Erosion of access – everything goes through intermediary• Sanitise release of

information• Spin or block bad stories• Statements, not interviews

In 1979 only 14 out of the UK’s top 50 companies employed PR agencies.

Journalists had direct access to sources of information.

E.g. Police View evidence logs Talk to investigating officers Seeing suspects arrive

Pre-1980s Post 1980s

Rise of PR

In practice…

Not always a sinister conspiracy

Can often seem benign

But PR’s role in stories always has significance.

Press releasesNews is selected and packaged by PR. Is it the full story? What is the real angle?

Press conferencesConvenient – but access is controlled. Not as good as one-to-one interview.Just because a press conference is called it does not mean it has news value.

Photo callsAgain, these are staged. They have less news value than a candid photo.They can deceive the reader.

Photo calls

This is the worst type of staged picture.It will be suggested to you multiple times per week by PR people.It has no value for readers.

Click icon to add picture

“Candid” camera

Rosie Nixon, editor of Hello! • Work "directly" with stars "every step of

the way" and would not run a story if the celebrity told them not to.

• "It's a really honest, trusting sort of relationship, we ultimately wouldn't do anything to upset anyone,. If somebody doesn't want us to run something we don't run it. We wouldn't get access to a big event in their lives in the future if we have done something to upset them."

Leveson evidenceProportion of stories published with celebrity consent.

70%Hello!

80%Ok!

Embargoes

What it is

Sets the earliest time that a story can be published

Allows journalists to see long government reports or scientific findings in advance, so that coverage is better informed.

Other usesReviews can be embargoed to suit the marketing timetable of a product, film, game, or album.

If poor reviews are expected, embargoes are used to minimise impact on sales

BreachesEmbargoes are a gentleman’s agreementBreaking them is not illegalBut it can damage your relationship with the company involved

Taking the coin

Click icon to add picturePerks

Press trips / travel writing

Car test drives

Movie premieres

Awards ceremonies

Launch parties

Scenario 3

You are covering a climate change protest Protestors tell you the police are being heavy handed Cops tell you there have been 50 arrests, and 70 officers injured What’s the story?

Click icon to add picture

Distortion

August 2008 Climate camp at

Kingsnorth Stop and Search

powers used by Kent Police

Activists said it was heavy handed

The Home Office said 70 officers were injured

Distortion

The Home Office lied. Under Freedom of Information, the real number of injuries was

revealed to be 12. They included toothache, wasp stings, heat exhaustion and one

nasty case of diarrhoea. None were caused by protestors.

Click icon to add picture

Distortion

Distortion also results from the selective nature of PR.

Only some stories are released to the press.

But what about the others?

Nigel Green, freelance reporterFOI results in Northumberland

5,083 incidents attended by police in one weekend in June 2006Those not worthy of release to the press:

Man who went missing from a hospital and was found dead in the sea.A 74-year-old man beaten by a group of youths.A young girl who died after falling from a tower block.

Distortion

Click icon to add pictureDistortion is not necessarily deliberate.

An information market run by PR is inescapably elitist.

Charities, companies and organisations with large bodies can saturate the media with professional PR material.

Smaller bodies with fewer funds struggle to get heard.

Due skepticism

Fully check

Never take anyone’s word for anything – every detail in your stories needs to be checked.

Sources

Is the information from a reliable source? Who can confirm it? Two sources for any story.

Interviews

Never settle for supplied information – good angles come out of talking to people.

Balance

Don’t let powerful PR dominate the angle. Who else has a view? What are the alternatives?

Press release

Click icon to add pictureFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Despite the flaws, PR is something you will have to deal with

Every office receives a flood of press releases by post and email

Most ends up in a tray in the corner of the office, fed to junior reporters and work experience students…

Press releases

Be original Press releases are sent out to all media in

large batches. Stories based closely on press releases

have a high risk of appearing, in almost identical form, in a rival publication.

Always look for a new angle or approach to make your story stand out.

It’s a good habit to get into for portfolio stories, too.

Options: Bin it Just write it (not

likely) Look for picture

opportunities Use it to inspire a

story on an issue, by finding more facts and opinions.

Examples

A typical bit of fluff – British Airways puts out a release about new wines it will serve in first class.The grapes are grown in Marden, near Maidstone.We can turn it into a story about success for a local business – and take pictures of a fresh batch being uncorked.

Examples

Wetherspoons announced it was banning swearing in its pubs – and put out a press release for some free publicity.I went to the local one and listened in to conversations, and wrote a first-person piece to go along with a story on the ban.It made the story more relevant and fun.

Examples

This came from a survey about “tough audiences” for comedians.

Maidstone came third. I interviewed a pub owner

who hosts comedy to find the worst gig he’d held

I tried to talk to comedians with local connections

And I interviewed the local theatre manager about whether she was concerned, and why we ranked so low.

Your turn

Click icon to add picture Stay in your three teams from earlier.

You each have a nib tray to go through.

Read the stories Are they news worthy? What would you do to turn

the press releases into fresh, engaging and lively news stories that stand out from your rivals?