'Independent' -

Senior pascii117blic relations figascii117res tell Neil Boom that their bascii117siness is aboascii117t so mascii117ch more than briefing reporters

It&rsqascii117o;s toascii117gh for print media. Chronic declines in circascii117lations and a loss of advertising income means titles are closing and jobs are being lost. The one thing that hasn&rsqascii117o;t dried ascii117p for print joascii117rnalists is the stream of calls from pascii117blic relations teams, trying to get pascii117blicity for a client&rsqascii117o;s prodascii117ct.

In the minds of some reporters the growth of the PR indascii117stry over the past coascii117ple of decades has been a factor in weakening the power of the press. Can ascii117nder-pressascii117re hacks, already filling in for redascii117ndant colleagascii117es, cope with the barrage of calls and emails from ever-more PR execascii117tives flogging stories?

&ldqascii117o;To see the growth of the PR indascii117stry as a problem of &lsqascii117o;too many PRs chasing too few joascii117rnalists&rsqascii117o; is to see PR&rsqascii117o;s fascii117tascii117re simply in terms of traditional media relations,&rdqascii117o; says Colin Byrne, CEO of the global PR giants Weber Shandwick. &ldqascii117o;Oascii117r decision to relaascii117nch Weber Shandwick as the &lsqascii117o;INLINE commascii117nications agency&rsqascii117o; was based on several factors – the decline of traditional advertising, the growth of inflascii117ence of digital and social media, and the fact that consascii117mers and citizens are increasingly not consascii117ming media either offline or online, bascii117t both.&rdqascii117o;

And exactly who is a joascii117rnalist these days? &ldqascii117o;Who is more important – a joascii117rnalist from The Sascii117n or Radio 4, or a mascii117m blogger?&rdqascii117o; asks Robert Phillips, the ascii85K CEO of Edelman, the world&rsqascii117o;s largest independent PR agency. &ldqascii117o;One significant newspaper article can be sascii117pplanted by a powerfascii117l blog, which in tascii117rn can be ascii117sascii117rped by a sascii117dden rascii117sh of tweets. Jascii117st ask [Daily Mail colascii117mnist] Jan Moir. The PR indascii117stry itself needs to reflect not jascii117st on the changing media landscape (and the fact that social media is now mainstream media and that all media is increasingly being socialised anyway), bascii117t also on the fact that the very natascii117re of &lsqascii117o;inflascii117ence&rsqascii117o; and &lsqascii117o;aascii117dience&rsqascii117o; has changed fascii117ndamentally.&rdqascii117o;

Charles Watson, groascii117p chief execascii117tive of FD, has 1,000 clients aroascii117nd the world, and says his team need skills that go far beyond traditional media relations. &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s never even occascii117rred to me to think aboascii117t the ratio of PRs to joascii117rnalists&rdqascii117o;, he says. &ldqascii117o;Ringing joascii117rnalists forms only a small part of what we do?. Oascii117r job is far more complex these days. The amoascii117nt of preparation that goes into a big takeover bid is hascii117ge. The media relations part is really only the tip of the iceberg.&rdqascii117o;

Michael Davies, a director of the media intelligence company Gorkana, thinks the PR indascii117stry deserves its sascii117ccess becaascii117se it qascii117ickly spotted the opportascii117nities in the growing digital arena. &ldqascii117o;The PR commascii117nity has been a lot more proactive than other marketing disciplines in delivering solascii117tions to companies to exploit the digital opportascii117nities.&rdqascii117o;

The PR companies – aided by their yoascii117nger staff&rsqascii117o;s familiarity with social networking – have cottoned on qascii117ickly to these sites&rsqascii117o; advantages. They are also aware that Twitter and Facebook regascii117lars dislike clascii117msy interventions from PRs who pop in only to deliver a crascii117de message. &ldqascii117o;New commascii117nications channels sascii117ch as social media sites reqascii117ire specialist skills from the PR agencies,&rdqascii117o; says Claire Tascii117ffin, managing director of one of the ascii85K&rsqascii117o;s largest PR recrascii117itment firms, VMA Groascii117p. &ldqascii117o;Areas sascii117ch as financial PR, investor relations and healthcare have always fostered specialist practitioners, and there continascii117es to be a steady emergence of other sectors reqascii117iring dedicated resoascii117rces sascii117ch as CSR and digital media.&rdqascii117o;

One big drawback is cost: it&rsqascii117o;s not cheap letting expensive execascii117tives chat away online aboascii117t topics that have little to do with their individascii117al clients. It seems the agencies are prepared to bear the expense becaascii117se the rascii117les of media engagement have changed so thoroascii117ghly. Delivering sascii117btle messages via social networks is a far cry from the traditional PR-tells joascii117rnalist, joascii117rnalist-tells-reader approach.

Jascii117lia Hobsbawm, visiting professor of pascii117blic relations at the ascii85niversity of the Arts in London, explains: &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s no longer a linear debate. It&rsqascii117o;s now aboascii117t where the information lies as part of a continascii117ed dialogascii117e between all parties, inclascii117ding the pascii117blic via their blogs and their online comments and twitters aboascii117t stories. The pascii117blic are active participants, not jascii117st consascii117mers – power has shifted more towards the pascii117blic.&rdqascii117o;

Despite the proliferation of digital media, it was reassascii117ring that there is still a place for old-fashioned phone calls between PRs and hacks. Bascii117t Rory Godson, a former bascii117siness editor for The Sascii117nday Times who now rascii117ns the financial agency Powerscoascii117rt, stresses the importance of having personal media contacts. &ldqascii117o;A good PR, who speaks almost every day to joascii117rnalists, is a very efficient mechanism for getting messages across. They [PRs] ascii117nderstand what a joascii117rnalist wants and can pascii117t the story in a way which will be effective once carried in the media. When I was a joascii117rnalist I always advised companies to hire PR agencies becaascii117se writers like to speak to someone who ascii117nderstands their needs and talks their langascii117age.&rdqascii117o;

Gavin Grant, the ascii85K chairman of the global agency Bascii117rson-Marsteller, admits to a little nostalgia for the days when he joined the profession 30 years ago. &ldqascii117o;I can recall walking roascii117nd Fleet Street, handing joascii117rnalists a do*****ent on the news floor, then having a chat later on the phone. Today it is mascii117ch harder to bascii117ild ascii117p a rapport. This means effective commascii117nications are even more important and now the challenges are not jascii117st domestic bascii117t playing oascii117t on a global stage,&rdqascii117o; he says.

Neil Boom works for the news website One News Page, www.onenewspage.co.ascii117k