Public Relating

The following is cross-posted on the CBS News Public Eye ombudsman blog.

What is journalism? According to Wikipedia, journalism is "a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people."

Now, what is "public relations?" Turing again to Wikipedia, PR is defined as "the art and science of building relationships between an organization and its key audiences."

OK, one last question. I promise. Why are we here? Well, Public Eye's mission is to bring transparency to the editorial operations of CBS News. It's a blog for CBS News and CBSNews.com journalists to explain and answer questions about the news they produce.

If you re-read the last three paragraphs, you might notice something striking. The mission of journalism hasn't largely changed. However, in an era where everyone can be a publisher (not necessarily a journalist), CBS is increasingly using social media to become more transparent to get closer to its audience. They’re wisely using blogs and podcasts to break down walls and build a closer bond with their publics. Journalism is no longer a largely one-way medium, but a dialogue. It's a conversation. It's a public relationship, or put another way, public relations.

Responding to scandals, criticism and the events of the 2004 Presidential election, CBS and others have rapidly adapted to the world of citizen journalism in a very positive way. They should be lauded for becoming more transparent and open. Public relations, however, is just coming to grips with this change. We need to learn from you.

Veronis Suhler Stevenson pegged the PR industry at $3.4 billion in 2004 and predicted it will grow 10 percent annually, reaching $5.2 billion by 2009. That's a lot of growth for a 100-year-old industry. What this masks, however, is that the PR industry is also adapting to the same changes that CBS has dealt with over the past two years. Our practices are becoming more public. All of us who work inside PR agencies recognize that we need to build transparent bond with the public directly and not just serve as corporate intermediaries. We are learning form you.

Over the next six to 12 months chunks of the PR-media mating dance will become increasingly public. As more PR professionals and corporations blog, we will increasingly use the medium to co-create build memes with our audiences that openly influence the news. At the same time the media will follow your lead in making the soup jar clearer.

Where does this all lead? Transparency in PR and in journalism means a more open dialogue and ultimately stronger editorial products and services. The media will become more relevant because it listens and responds to create a better product. Smart corporations, meanwhile, will become more relevant as well because they will through the assistance of their PR agencies create a more open dialogue with consumers.

The end game here is that the rising tide of transparency will lift all our boats. The PR and media worlds – CBS included – need to work together to make this happen. This will surely mean bumps in the road and perhaps a hole or two in the Chinese Wall that separates advertising and editorial. But together, we will make this dialogue stronger. Our consumers want it that way.

Technorati Tags: CBS, publiceye, media

Comments

[Brian Connolly]

Steve,

A good sermon Father Rubel. But here are a few points to consider: transparency, empowerment and the unwashed mass.

First regarding transparency: Do you close the bathroom door? Sorry but transparency has its limitations. Ultimately, you may feel freer peeing in the wind. But I do not want to stand by you while you do it. “CBS is increasingly using social media… to get closer to its audience.” Not necessarily a good idea. Distance has its benefits.

Now with regard to living “in an era where everyone can be a publisher (not necessarily a journalist)”… that’s a fundamental point missed by the Blog-for-Blog-Sake advocates. It’s aligned with “empowerment” and of the same thinking that empowerment is just a universal good. It’s not. Unfortunately, there’s a flipside. Indeed, unleashing those suppressed has its merits. But then there’s giving the keys to the Porsche to a sixteen year old. That has a predictable outcome. Apparently kids (figuratively speaking) make up the lion share of those blogging.

Lastly, as to the unwashed mass, give everybody in NY a can of spray paint. Tell them it’s legal to express themselves. Better yet, encourage them!! Now tell me what the city would look like in 6 months.

Just a few thoughts.

Brian Connolly
President
Furthermore, Inc.
http://WePublishing.com

[Eric Hansen]

Very true. However, is transparency ALWAYS a good thing? To play devil's advocate: what about the negative impact that televising White House press briefings had on the relationship between journalist and PR practitioner? Even the initial proponent of televising them wishes he had never done so (check out the most recent edition of NPR's On The Media for the interview). Should this be ignored because the press secretary is not practicing the kind of PR in question?

It may be the case that transparency is not the issue, but the medium chosen to provide it. Television is not that medium, blogs are.

Given the heterogeneity of PR, what are some of the first PR operations on the chopping block for making transparent? How does one begin implementing those changes once the technology is in place?

Eric Hansen, student
Syracuse University

[Kent Bye]

Steve,
I submitted the following comment at the Public Eye blog:

To me the biggest unanswered question is "Where does the public interest fit within the job description of a PR professional?"

I actually asked Steve this at the We Media Conference held at the headquaters of the Associated Press, and this is what he told me:

"The public interest is important, but I think that that's more important to a journalist than it is to the PR professional. PR professional is less concerned with public interest, and more concerned with doing results that are going to get paid for. And where the journalists and the folks in this room where I stand here, they're definitely worrying about the public interest. And ultimately, they're going to decide what's best for the public, not us."

You can listen to the full interview with Steve here:
http://www.echochamberproject.com/rubel

I share Steve's optimism that transparency and authenticity will help keep corporations honest, but there are still crisis communications tactics that PR professionals use that are designed to deflect and downplay legitimate criticism of their client's behavior --- even it is harming the public interest.

* * * * * *
Incidentally, I also did a video about this in the context of politics here:
http://www.echochamberproject.com/governmentbypasspress

This is an issue that goes way beyond the world of PR, but it is one that comes into play when talking about the dynamics between the press and PR professionals