In the News, 3rd edition

William Wray Carney has worked in journalism, education and public relations fields for several decades. He is co-editor of Fundamentals of Public Relations and Marketing Communications in Canada (UAP), an introductory textbook for communications and public relations students. Colin has over 30 years of experience as a public relations practitioner in the private and public sectors. His experience includes issues management, stakeholder relations, media relations, and marketing. He is an Assistant Professor at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta and is an accredited member and a Fellow of the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS). He earned his Master of Arts in Professional Communications at Royal Roads University, Victoria. Mark Hunter LaVigne, MA, APR, FCPRS (Fellow, CPRS) has some 30 years’ experience as a public relations practitioner, professor/lecturer and published author. For more than 20 years, he has owned and operated his PR consultancy, with a focus on media relations. He wrote the media relations chapter in “Fundamentals of Public Relations and Marketing Communications “ University of Alberta Press (2015). He has also published a children’s book, “The Adventures of Matilda the Tooth Fairy,” and writes and performs music on acoustic guitar, harmonica, ukulele and vocals and co-founded the band The Coyotes, whose CD “Out of the Woods” can be found on iTunes amongst various portals.

xi Preface
xiii Acknowledgements
xv A Note on Resources
xvii Introduction

1 I | THEORY AND PRINCIPLES ON MEDIA RELATIONS

3 1 | WHY MEDIA, WHY NEWS
4 Why Choose Media as a Means of Communications?
7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Media
15 Alternatives to Media
21 Case Study: 2010 Olympic Torch Relay Campaign

27 2 | BASIC PRINCIPLES OF MEDIA RELATIONS
27 Principle One: Good Communications Cannot Overcome
Bad Judgement
28 Principle Two: Provide Information from a Credible Source
31 Principle Three: Practice Media Relations Regularly
31 Principle Four: Understand Legal Restrictions and Obligations
36 Principle Five: You Cannot Manage the Media
37 Philosophical Considerations

41 3 | PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS
41 Communicator and Journalist
50 Ethics

57 4 | BASICS OF MEDIA: WHO THEY ARE
57 Types of Media
58 Broadcast Media
62 Digital Media
63 Print Media
68 Forgotten Media
71 Media Options in a Mid-sized Market: An Example
74 Summary: What Are the Media?

77 5 | BASICS OF MEDIA: HOW THEY WORK
78 Who Are the Reporters in Canada?
79 How Do They Get Their Stories?
83 What Makes a Good Story?
85 How Do They Present the Story?
89 Reporting for Broadcast
91 Case Study: A Day in the Life of a Digital Editor

93 II | THE PRACTICE OF MEDIA RELATIONS

95 6 | GETTING STARTED: A MEDIA PLAN
95 Proactive and Reactive Media Relations
100 Paid versus Earned Media
100 Planning for a Media Event: The One-Off Plan
104 Long-Term Planning: A More Complex Model

105 7 | THE FIRST STEPS: RESEARCH, GOALS AND TRAINING
106 Situational Analysis
108 Basic Planning
109 Research
114 Policies and Procedures
117 Media Training

121 8 | APPROACHING THE MEDIA: MEDIA DRIVERS AND THE NEWS RELEASE
121 Media Drivers
122 The News Release
125 The Lede
135 Is It Time to Retire the Traditional News Release?
136 Video News Releases

139 9 | OTHER APPROACHES TO THE MEDIA
139 The News Conference
146 Technical Briefing/Backgrounder
147 The Scrum
148 Media Stunts
150 Media Events
152 Direct Contact

159 10 | DO-IT-YOURSELF MEDIA
160 Op-Eds
161 Letters to the Editor
162 Community Cable Programming
163 Advertorials
164 Ad Features
165 Media Sponsorships
167 Public Service Announcements
169 Community Billboards
169 Self-Publishing: The Newsletter
170 Self-Publishing: The Website
173 Blogs and Social Media

175 11 | THE INTERVIEW
176 Overview and Limitations
178 How Not To Do an Interview
187 How To Conduct an Interview: Basic Guidelines
189 Attributes of a Good Interview

195 12 | THE INTERVIEW CONTINUED: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
195 The Basic Answer Format
197 Basic Questions
199 Standard Question Formats
203 Unfair Questions
205 Fitting Questions to Format
210 Behaving in an Interview
211 The Telephone Interview
211 A Few Thoughts on the Media Interview
212 Done!

213 13 | EVALUATION AND REVISION
213 Evaluation
218 Measuring Achievement of Goals
219 Revise as Necessary
221 Case Study: McCormick® Gourmet Super Spices

225 14 | SPECIAL MEDIA, SPECIAL CASES
225 Business Media
228 Government and Politics
232 Entertainment Media
234 Sports Media
235 Crisis Communications
239 Internet, Digital and Social Media

241 15 | THE FINE ART OF COMPLAINING ABOUT THE MEDIA
245 Complaining about Newspapers
247 Complaining about Broadcasters

249 ENVOI: FINAL THOUGHTS

251 Further Reading
255 Notes
267 Bibliography
271 Index