The Growing Rift Between PR and the Media

The Growing Rift Between PR and the Media

By Jon Boroshok

There has been a recent onslaught of articles attacking public relations and the tactics used by some PR professionals. One example worth reading is "The Decline and Fall of Public Relations" from the October 1999 edition of Soft-letter (http://www.softletter.com/prreport.html), a newsletter that reports on business issues and trends in personal computer software publishing.

Such articles should hit home for PR professionals. The article focuses solely on media relations, and PR pros would be hard pressed to deny that many of the journalists' complaints are accurate! In order to appreciate such articles, however, it is first necessary to understand some of the reasons why the modus operandi has become what it's become.

We're in an era when even the "techiest" of tech reporters shows more interest in a company's stock ticker symbol than the solutions that company offers. It is rare that a reporter will return a call, especially about a smaller or privately held company.

Journalists are bombarded with PR calls and e-mail in part because younger practitioners are instructed to play a numbers game. The more reporters contacted, the better the chances of getting a hit. The pace of today's business makes it impossible to read each and every publication first, no matter how relevant to clients. The media, overloaded too, have become less accessible, and it becomes tougher to quickly identify the right contact for the right pitch. Do journalists have time to read all their competitors? What is each article or broadcast doing to offer some basic product differentiation?

Read a technology/e-commerce story in one publication and you've read it in all publications. Coverage appears limited to Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, E-Bay, IBM, Amazon, Intel, and Cisco. Reporters seem to follow each other to cover only the same stories about the biggest players, which does their readers a great disservice. Readers will learn all about these companies through the courtesy of massive advertising budgets. If the alleged line between advertising and editorial still exists, doesn't it make more sense for reporters to ferret out the smaller, lesser-known companies, take some risks, and cover something that readers don't already know about?

PR agencies are also going overboard in taking advantage of the Internet economy. Like much of corporate America, agencies are consolidating into large holding companies to maximize efficiencies and profits. Agencies are so busy that they're not taking on new clients, or at least no new clients with retainers of less than $20,000 per month. The thought of agencies "auditioning" clients and extorting them for equity is appalling, but it is happening at some of the larger "brand name" shops. Unfortunately, these are the agencies journalists are most familiar with, and those same journalists who rightfully bemoan shoddy PR encourage the problem to persist by refusing to deviate from their well worn paths.

While large agencies are consolidating (and dealing primarily with larger clients), smaller niche agencies and independent contractors have started to fill the void. Even Gateway computers recently announced a shift in their PR strategy, opting to go with smaller agencies and individual practitioners rather than a big name agency. Start-ups can chose between agencies of various sizes, independent contractors, an in-house marcom staff, or an "all of the above" solution. But the media mentality of only covering number one makes it difficult for a smaller agency or client to even reach journalists, let alone get covered.

Agency mergers and acquisitions contribute to the problem. Agencies talk a good game for customer service, then fail to deliver. Mergers make agencies more cost efficient for themselves - by eliminating duplication (less folks left to serve the client) and/or reducing experienced staff in favor of cheaper, junior staff. Senior players are seen only during the pitch. What does that do for a client or for relationships with the press? Where is our value add?

Part of the Internet's promise is that business can be done from anyplace, yet agencies still sell clients on the myth of location, location, location - leading clients to believe that only downtown agencies are good agencies. Reporters perpetuate the problem by turning to the same tied sources again and again. There's no reason for the new "dot-coms" and other tech start-ups to be paying for the view from the agency's conference room. They should be paying for good, senior counsel and results.

It's a very competitive business climate, one that unreasonably demands instant results now, even if at the expense of long term well being. Clients and the media both are bowing to the pressures of Wall Street and the need to make analysts and investors happy, with no regard to impact on long term profits. Everything is based on affect on stock price, not necessarily news or technological innovation and solutions. There's also pressure from publishers to cover and avoid offending potential advertisers.

What's happening in the agency market is the same thing that's happening in e-commerce vs. "brick and mortar" retail. The way business is done is changing, and many agencies can't or won't change with the times. Boutique agencies are doing well - they can react and adapt faster, and can service smaller, promising start-ups with senior staff. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't make your clients pay for a city skyline view, and by not burning out your senior people with long commutes. If only we could get journalists to be more selective, responsive, and open-minded. Excuse the cliché, but it's time to think outside of the box for story ideas and coverage.

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Jon Boroshok is president of TechMarcom, an independent outsource of marketing communications for newsworthy tech start-ups in suburban Boston (www.techmarcom.com). He has over 12 years of expertise on accounts including AT&T Multimedia Solutions, PSINet, Sybase, Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, and Monster.com. TechMarcom clients include GeePS.com, Inc, Livineasy.com, The Cognos Corporation, and Angstrom Microsystems. Contact Boroshok at: jb@techmarcom.com