Media relations manages a company’s presence in print, broadcast, and online publications. The team provides accurate and timely information to the media, facilitates interviews with top executives, and organizes events such as press releases. Media policy is decided by senior management, and media teams often work closely with PR teams.
Media relations is a division of a company or organization that handles liaison with external media, be it press releases, interviews, or stories about to break. The nature and structure of the division necessarily depend on the company in question. In a small non-profit group, media interactions might be handled by someone who also has other functions, while in major multinational corporations the media team often includes dozens if not hundreds of employees. The basic goal is the same in all cases, however; in particular, to manage the group’s presence and identity in print, broadcast and online publications. Experts in this field often work with members of the press to shape the public image of the company and can feed editors and producers who have culled facts and news stories in order to influence the media’s bigger impression. In most cases, the head of the company or its larger management team is responsible for setting media policies and objectives. Professionals in this field often overlap with a company’s public relations division, although the core tasks and goals of each are usually quite different.
Extensive importance of media interactions
In most countries, the media play an active role in bringing information about private companies to public attention. Sometimes this happens as a natural consequence; a company designing a revolutionary new product or drug, for example, is likely to have the launch of that product covered in newspapers, often as a means of public information rather than sales or advertising. Members of the media and press center also often work on their own initiative, researching stories and writing or covering things that members of the public wouldn’t necessarily know about otherwise.
Media relations teams cover both angles. It is usually the job of people in these departments to help provide media personnel with accurate and timely information, as well as deal with dispersed information. In the case of good news being shared, members of the media team often want to make sure that all the right facts and statistics are being shared. If the news is more negative, they often go into crisis management mode and try to find ways to spin things around so they focus on the positives. Relations officers will often facilitate interviews with top executives and may organize events such as press releases or public lectures.
Types of work involved
There is a lot of variety when it comes to people’s experience in this field, as well as their job settings. Smaller companies often only have one person working with the media, but larger companies can have entire departments or teams. It is also common for companies to contract with professional media consultancies, either on a long-term basis or on a project basis.
The field is often quite large. Some relationship mavens deal primarily with print media, while others are more interested in television and radio broadcasting. It is also common to find online brand management experts working as media liaisons, both to mitigate the spread of information online and to extend its reach. Internet-based media often operate differently, both in terms of timing and standards, than more traditional industries, so having someone experienced in the online space assigned to this task is often in a company’s best interest.
Policy making process
A company’s media policy is generally decided by the most senior members of the executive management, usually the chief executive officer or other members of the board of directors. However, politics does not only affect those at the top of the corporate food chain and for this reason executives often actively take the advice of media specialists before making firm decisions. Policies range from the bare minimum to the extreme, but most require employees or members of a group to speak with executives before speaking to members of the press about company issues or events.
In most cases, the first step to building effective media relationships is building a plan. This plan outlines the elements needed to build a relationship with local, regional and national news outlets. It also specifies how this will be done, the image the organization intends to represent, and other notable events that may relate to the company’s goals.
Potential overlap with public relations
Media teams often work closely with PR people and in some ways their work is very similar; in others, however, it can be quite different. Both teams may be involved in disseminating information and when it comes to crisis management they often work closely together. The core of public relations though is interacting directly with members of the public, whereas in media it is reaching out to members of the press. The press can sway public opinion, of course, but there’s usually a little more distance.
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