The Internet, News and Public Relations; The Never-Ending Story

Publics Empowered by the Web and New Media force Professional Communicators, including the traditional media, to start doing this differently.

New Media

The world wide web has brought globalization to our front door. We are connected the world over and the sharing of information and images, cultures and practices, news and stories has become as easy as turning on your mobile phone.

The internet has made this globalization possible but it is New Media, that makes it accessible to everyday people, like you and me.

I know if I were to try and understand the workings of the internet, my mind may possibly implode! But, what I can understand, is social networks, websites, emails and blog posts. These new media are our way into utilising the internet.

Nowadays, the internet is fast

Nowadays, the internet is easy to use

Nowadays, the internet is cheap

Cheap, easy and fast, it’s clear to see how there has been a huge shift from centrally owned media which was “controlled by a handful of large corporations or Governments” (Tench & Yeomanns) to publicly accessible forums where people from all walks of life can create and manipulate content for the world to see.

Not only can your ordinary ‘Joe Soap’ create and manipulate online New Media content

Your ordinary ‘Joe Soap’ does create and manipulate online New Media content.

Hence, we witness the birth of the Citizen Journalist.

The Citizen Journalist

The Citizen Journalist can be any person (professional or not) collecting, reporting, analysing, and disseminating news and information.

With the improvement in modern technology and the accessibility of New Media, citizens often can report breaking news more quickly than traditional media reporters.

Citizen Journalists is to New Media as Professional Journalists is to Traditional Media.

I am not here to say the Traditional Media is dead, but it is not ‘live’, New Media is ‘live’.

It is ‘of the moment’ and is always trending. It brings news stories and information to audiences globally in a matter of minutes.

In 2015, a number of Terrorist attacks were carried out in Paris. Social Network sites saw a huge influx of posts about the event in real time. (Click on Image for twitter feed)

“When we learned the news that night, lots of images and explicit descriptions started coming through social media minutes after the attacks happened. That level of proximity was unusual for us.” Said Denis Carreaux, editorial director of the Nice-Maritn (a local newspaper in Paris, France)

The coverage of the attacks online by victims and witnesses sparked a huge following of the event. People individual stories and visual support online.

Traditional media, had to follow suit. It was a story that the world was actively involved in through New Media. A story that everyone has been part of because of the immediacy of the reportage from Citizen Journalists and the emotive content of the reports.

However, with great power comes great responsibility; a concept understood by professional journalists but not so much by the lay-person. Citizen journalists can become “engaged in presenting opinion as fact, rumour as reportage and innuendo as information” (Tench & Yeomanns)

In March 2018, social media was rife with users sharing an article which has the headline “Florida Passes Bill Legalizing Recreational Use of Marijuana”. The article was late deemed false, or, in the words of Donald Trump, ‘fake news’.

It was the direct result of individuals with the powers to disseminate a message, exploiting this power.

What does that mean for news?

In a world where the influx of information is constant and platforms to receive news are numerous, the ‘marketplace of ideas’ has become saturated.

If everyone has something to say and everyone has access to a global platform for expression the we have a problem.

In the words of Timothy Gordon Ash, “people are hectically competing and shouting in this ‘marketplace’ for eyeballs and clicks. This means that moderate, nuanced, evidence-based journalism finds it hard to be heard”

We are now reading and reporting news in a ‘post-fact’ society. A society whereby the facts are not enough to grab the attention of the reader. News needs to appeal to the readers emotions, to appeal to their interest and stand out from everything else that is being bombarded in their direction.

“If it bleeds its leads, if it roars it soars” - Timothy Gordon Ash

For news to be heard, media need to make sure that they ‘shout’ the loudest. This means that sensationalism has begun to slip its way into all avenues of news reporting.

In The Irish Times, online headlines for 26/03/2018 we see buzz words like ‘sins’, ‘raped’, ‘demoralized’, ‘stupider’ used for eye-grabbing effect. . The Irish Times is known famously as broadsheet.

The profusion of online media and saturation of information and news stories available means that “we have to adopt natural scepticism to every piece of content we discover through the social web” http://freespeechdebate.com/discuss/verifying-citizen-journalism/

That being said, Oxford University has found that since 2016, online sources of news have become the most popular source of news for the UK population.

It seems that all media need to keep up with the immediacy and volume of online publications.

It is no surprise then, that traditional media have adopted many of the characteristics of online media;

· the sensationalist language

· movement to online forums

· availability on New Media applications

This shift in design, is necessary in order to keep in up to date with the immediacy and speed at which the world now operates online.

What does that mean for Public Relations?

New Media has created an immediacy in communication like never before.

The speed in which publics can initiate conversations and react to messages disseminated by organisations, is light speeds ahead of what it once was. The interactivity of these publics is something very new and very real for public relations professionals.

However, “the function of public relations is connected with the concept of interactivity” (Kelleher, T., 2006) and dialogue between organisations and their publics is central for the organisations growth.

If we return to the basic principles of communication, we see that New Media has just provided new platforms for Public Relations professionals to practice old tac-tics.

Let’s visit for a moment Grunig’s models of public relations communication and in particular the model of two-way symmetric communication. This model of communication is seen as providing the most democratic framework for the PR professional to follow. It ensures that relationship between the organisation and the public is mutually beneficial.

New Media gives the gift of ‘cheap and fast’ two-way communication to PR professionals and can be hugely effective if utilized proficiently.

“I do not believe digital media change the public relations theory needed to guide practise, especially our generic principles of public relations. Rather New Media facilitate the application of the principles and, in the future, will make it difficult for practitioners around the world not to use the prinicples” (Grunig, J., E., 2009)

PR professionals can use public interactivity and public empowerment to their advantage as they work hand in hand with their publics.

In an information saturated society full of sensationalism and skepticism, it is of utmost importance that the public relations practice remains as authentic and transparent as possible.

We saw specifically in end of February and beginning of March 2018, that the Government’s Strategic Communications Unit used tax-payers money to pay for ‘advertorial space’ to publish political content. They tried to pass it off as non-political unbiased work but the online nation of the newly establish critical eye, saw through the deceit and the Government was highly criticized. This was a lesson for the PR professional, that nothing less than transparent and authentic communication will be tolerated.

The ‘general public’ no longer blindly excepts messages given to them in the media.

The ‘general public’ no longer passively wait for professional opinion to be published.

The ‘general public’ no longer exists.

Public Relations professionals need to upskill and make sure they are online savvy, as a bare minimum. Using new technical skills partnered with the age-old skills of honest and open communication, Public Relations can prosper in the age of New Media.

Public Relations must work to maintain human connections in a de-humanised society of technology and New Media

The Internet, our world and our stories are in constant flux but with our core grounded in tradition. PR must be too.

Public Relations must look back to its foundations to build on its future

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Bibliography

Mangad, N., 2016, Social Media During Terrorist Attacks; How is it useful for Journalists?, Global Editors Network, accessed at: [https://medium.com/global-editors-network/social-mediaduring-terrorist-attacks-how-useful-is-it-for-journalistsfbb6d4522a3b] on 02/04/2018

Tench, R., & Yeomans, L., 2017, Exploring Public Relations; Global Strategic Communication, Pearson, UK. The New School, 2016

Hans Maeder Lecture Series: Timothy Garton Ash: "Free Speech in an Age of Trumpery",  Youtube video accessed at: [https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HJUxPm_9AP4] on 02/04/2018

Browne, M., 2012, Storyful; Verifying Citizen Journalists, Free Speech Debate accessed at : [http://freespeechdebate.com/discuss/verifying-citizenjournalism/] on 02/04/2018  Nielsen, R., K., 2017, Where do people get their news?; The British Media Landscape in 5 charts, Oxford University, accessed at [https://medium.com/oxford-university/where-do-people-gettheir-news-8e850a0dea03] on 02/04/2018

Kelleher, T., 2006, Public Relations Online; Lasting Concepts for Changing Media, Sage Publications

Grunig, J., E., 2009, Paradigms of Global Public Relations in an age of Digitalisation, Univeristy of Maryland

Pavlik, J., V., & Dozier, D., M., 1996, Managing the Information Superhighway: A Report on the Issues Facing Communication Professionals, A study funded by a grant from the The Institute for Public Relations Research and Education

Society for New Communications Research, 2008, New Media, New Influencers and Implications for Public Relations, Institue of Public Relations & Wieck Media, SNCR Press