Journalism, PR and the Media: relationships and issues

Starting to explore the relationship between Public Relations and Journalism I could not stop wondering what the main issues of working together are. For the first week, I read News Journalism and Public Relations: A Dangerous Relationship in Journalism: New Challenges (Moloney, Jackson & McQueen, 2013, pp. 259-281) and Hacks v. Flaks: Journalism and Public Relations in ’Journalism: Truth or Dare?’ (Hargreaves, 2003, pp. 178-197).

The today market makes PR industry grow up, whereas Journalism tries to find their place in media, which they successfully occupied until the PR revolution. In PR-isation era, outlined in the Lecture by Dr Ayo Oyeleye, the Journalism is losing its independence.[i] Related to both readings[ii], many people start to doubt the truth and the accuracy of articles. One reason for this phenomenon is journalists’ lack of sourcing, yet they take as newsworthy what PR professionals spread. (Hargreaves, 2003, p. 181)

The concept of ‘Churnalism’ shapes the idea of PR-isation in journalism[iii]. As the PR-isation is established in most of the media sectors, journalists became disarmed and forceless (Hargreaves, 2003, pp. 184-187). There can be depicted a significant increase in the number of PR people, so figures match or exceed journalists’ number. According to both Hargreaves (2003, p. 180) and Moloney, Jackson and McQueen (2013, p. 264), the expectations are that in the next years there will be more PR professionals than journalists, as US face this trend right now.

Related to both readings, journalists have to make a double work, yet they are more focused on checking the news rather than generating them[iv]. I do believe that quality should be more important than quantity and this state should be a rule for journalists.

I do consider that the major issue in this area is that as long as PR tries to keep away from media negative sides of their clients and journalists agree to publish anything they receive, the real stories are blurred in mass-coverage. Thus, journalists should have their own sources, they must check any story and the transparency of sources should not be a ‘thorny issue for journalists’ Moloney, Jackson and McQueen (2031, pp. 273-276).

In regards to future research, I would conduct content analyse to depict PR elements in Journalists’ articles.

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References:

Hargreaves, I (2003) Journalism: Truth or Dare?, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context, 2ndEdition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Moloney, K., Jackson, D. and McQueen, D. (2013) Journalism: New Challenges, Bournemouth: Centre for Journalism & Communication Research

Bibliography:

Hargreaves, I (2003) Journalism: Truth or Dare?, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Holladay, S. and Coombs, T. (2007) It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing

Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context, 2ndEdition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Moloney, K., Jackson, D. and McQueen, D. (2013) Journalism: New Challenges, Bournemouth: Centre for Journalism & Communication Research

[i] (Moloney, Jackson and McQueen, 2013, pp. 261-262)

[ii] (Moloney, Jackson and McQueen, 2013, pp. 263-266; Hargreaves, 2003, pp. 178-179)

[iii] Because of the lack of stories journalists take every story provided by PR professionals and publish it as their own article (Moloney, Jackson and McQueen, 2013, pp. 261-267)

[iv] There are two main routes journalists applied in order to collect stories from PR officers: the direct one, taking the stories from PR people and the indirect route where Journalists receive stories from agencies (Moloney, Jackson & McQueen, 2013, pp. 264-266).

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