Week 7

As we can see from the reading, journalists and public relations practitioners share an adversarial relationship. It seems that journalists tend to have a condescending attitude towards PR practitioners although up to 60 per cent of their news are obtained from press releases or information provided by PR personnel. Thus it is no wonder that PR practitioners have to work doubly hard to gain the trust of journalists. To do so, effort has to be taken to understand the nature of the beat, the style of the journalists and how the journalists write and what interests them.

Additionally, for a media release to be effective, the PR practitioner has to craft the story in such a way that it resembles a news story with the important news values such as timeliness, prominence, impact and proximity highlighted. This will not only the make the job of a journalist easier, it will attract their attention and therefore increase the chances of the event or topic covered getting published. Additionally, the story cannot be overtly biased, otherwise journalists will not bite the bait. The PR practitioner has to achieve not only balance within the story, but he or she has to serve the interest of the company at the same time. It is indeed not easy being a PR practitioner!

I noticed from the article that a common lament of journalists is the lack of good language skills amongst PR practitioners. I used to think that having good language skills is secondary for a PR practitioner as compared to a journalist, however I am wrong! Poor use of language puts a journalist off and this is the least that the PR practitioner hopes for.

From this reading, I realized that the job of a PR practitioner is demanding and multi-faceted. Not only do PR practitioners have to serve the interests of the company, they have to ‘please’ journalists as well. Additionally, other areas of their work include strategizing, events management, sponsorships etc. A PR practitioner has to be good at almost everything!

Week 6

Journalists and public relations practitioners have always been known to have an antagonistic relationship with one another. Thus it is important for public relations practitioners not to aggravate the already adversarial relationship. Instead it is crucial for them to win over journalists, most definitely not by bribing them, but by gaining their trust and making their jobs easier.


They can do so by writing press releases in such a way that the news point is at the top. It is important for PR practitioners to remember that they should avoid being too promotional. To do so, a PR personnel will have to think the way a journalist thinks. What is the news value in this? Who are the people involved? When did it happen or when will it take place? Why is this important? How is it going to take place? etc. By thinking and planning along the line of how journalists function, the success rate of getting a media event coverage is much higher. Nitty-gritty details such as the place to hold the convention etc have to be taken into consideration.


Overall this chapter has caused me to realise that at the heart of public relations, it is the ability to cultivate good relationships with people-journalists, the internal and external publics, that is important. Fundamentally, public relations is about achieving an organization's goals while meeting the needs of others involved. PR practitioners are the middle-men involved in balancing and meeting these needs.

Week 4

Public relations do play a vital role in an organisation such that it has to be involved in the top decision making process! Isn't it great to have an influence in the decision-making process of any organisation?


I didn't realise how important the role of public relations practitioners is until after I have read this chapter. However, with this key role comes along greater responsibility. An effective PR personnel must not only be equipped good communication skills, he or she must also be familiar with the way a business operates; its aims, objectives and its reason for existence. Thus PR practitioners must not be narrow-minded in insisting that they just have to be good at their specific area of expertise.


The key points to bring home are the stages involved in the public relations process. They are firstly, the creation of organisational vision and mission statements, followed by the creation of public relations vision and mission statements, the establishment of performance indicators, budgeting, writing of a public relations plan and finally scheduling of public relations plan activities. It seems to be a long and tedious process, but each step is necessary.


After reading this chapter, I realise that public relations isn't just for business entities. The way churches are run are also increasingly similar to that of a business organisation, especially mega-churches where publicity and image management seem increasingly important. Church vision and mission statements have also to be discussed and laid down, although the difference is that church leaders have to pray through and about it. The lessons taught through this chapter about vision and mission planning have also helped me understand better how to go about doing so and the difference between the two.