Week 7

I think the key points to remember from this week's reading were:

- media relations is one of the best-known elements of PR
- the term media relations is often used synonymously with publicity
- cross-media ownership means the ownership of different mediums in the one location by the same company
- convergence in media platforms has the benefit of enabling them to reach wider and more varied audiences with the same message
- in mainstream media, greater concentration menas fewer major outlets
- Clippings files can be important for research
- new values: impact, conflict, timeliness, proximity, prominence, currency, human interest, unusual, money
- media outlets run to strict and inflexible deadlines and these vary with the type of medium, the complexity, location and regularity of production
- because of the flexible deadline, radio is an important news outlet for breaking news stories
- practitioners have to be familiar with all styles and deadlines and work well within them. This could result in: 1) assist the media as information providers, 2) maximise the chances of gaining exposure for their organisation
- two things are important in knowing the newsroom: 1) understand the personnel make-up of a newsroom, 2) know the names and roles of the journalist within the newsroom
- most newsrooms are characterised by a basic hierarchy
- getting to know the media is also a useful starting point in keeping negative publicity to a minimum
- practitioners should always consider the mediums's particular needs
- the primary purpose of media selection is getting a message to a specific audience
- selecting the best media for the message is extremly important, therefore practitioners must know precisely who they want to hget their message across to
- communication tools: media release, media kit and media conferences
- media release has to be well written, the content should be newsworthy and that it reach the right media person at the right time
- media conferences: it is important to know why they are held, when and where to hold them and finally who to invite

The readings made me think more about PR theory/practice in that:

media relations is an absolutely essential element of PR. As a practitioner it is necessary to know the newsrooms. This can help in future crisis management.