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Are PR professionals just mediators?
By Madhavi Mukherjee on Jan 7, 2008 in Indian PR industry, issues
I know today is not my turn to write…but couldn’t keep the contrariety and the dissension going on in my head…had to let it out and when the angst is related to all of us, I couldn’t help feel that this was the right place.
Public Relations is a part of the good old IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) mix and is nowadays considered to be the one of the most crucial elements for a successful communication campaign. PR is a part of the Media and A&M (Advertising and Marketing) industry and yet is not just treated as a step sister, but sometimes scum. As excited and honored I am to be a part of that industry and having grown and specialized enough to have some sort of an expertise in the profession, it saddens me when Media (Journalists) treat PR professionals as an interruption, just a watchdog who mediates meetings and interactions and says nothing at all, a coordinator for information almost only to be a delivery boy…it upsets me when media thinks that ‘you’ are the ignorant link in the chain of communication.
PR professionals are sometimes more knowledgeable than the media peers and I wouldn’t shirk admitting that. The kids out there are slogging day in and day out reading upon the sectors, devouring reports and analysis to gain in depth knowledge about their Clients, strategizing hand in hand with the marketing team and the corporate communications team to build a sound image of the Client…and then you get rebuffed as the side kick whose role is chopped off at the editing table!
It’s a different thing to condemn a PR professional if they call and follow up at peak story filing time, if they come unprepared for a meeting, if they are unable to share the necessary information et al. But to revile those professionals who are doing an equally hard job to manifest everything that the Client is saying and channeling it to the right medium… I think is a sorry state of affairs!
PR professionals are not ‘DODOS’ as some would have them believed. They are a bunch of extremely dignified and intelligent group of kids who understand the depth of communications and are as big analysts of the sector and society as their counterparts are…
- Madhavi Mukherjee
On Jan 9, 2008, Tushar said:
hey, Madhavi.
Have you heard this in any of our bollywood movies…
“Dusro ki Taqdeer likhne wale oh insaan, pehle aapni Taqdeer to likh”
It is a problem within and please dont blame poor news breakers! Do we really have a self esteem or is it going the way Maruti’s esteem is going.
The change is about to happen. Soon.
On Jan 9, 2008, Palin Ningthoujam said:
Let’s not forget many of us pitch a client promising so many number of stories in a month. I didn’t like the fact PR evolved with so much focus on media relations. We should be looking more at 360 degree approaches for our clients. The media hates it when they realise that they will write a story and we are earning out of that.That’s understandable. But well Madhavi, you must have come across journalists who are well read and understand the PR mix. So can we say it depends partly on the individual and his inter personal relationships with certain journalists. How we project ourselves to the media and to the client matters a lot.
On Jan 10, 2008, Anonymous said:
Hi madhavi,
We PR professionals have indepth knowledge of our clients sector.Sometimes we do get treated as mere courrier boys, which is unfair. media needs to be taught a lesson or two.