No time to bypass the press

Ian Burrell’s feature in Monday’s Independent raises the prospect that organisations are becoming so equipped at creating their own content that they could start to by-pass mainstream media altogether.

The fact that PR has become a topic worthy of a full page of national news coverage shows the prominence of the industry today. I can’t imagine this being the case, even when I started.

In the feature, Burrell says:

“Today our culture has been so transformed by social media and rapid advances in mobile technology that PR strategy is often to bypass traditional news outlets by self-generating content that is delivered direct to the public.”

…

 “This avalanche of professionally produced comment, analysis and feature material posing as editorial must mean that news “churnalism” has negligible value. Most news sites are still fixated on mass traffic and have an insatiable appetite for material. But newspaper websites will find it harder to attract traffic if companies and PRs turn their backs on the press.”

Undoubtedly, social media has changed the way news breaks and is reported. Twitter has been instrumental in this. It means that millions of organisations as well as people are sharing and spreading news and opinions every minute.

But this doesn’t mean that mainstream media is dead. I’m still yet to work on a campaign that doesn’t see a slot on BBC Breakfast or a page lead in the Telegraph as the primary barometers of success. I won’t be turning my back on the press yet.  

There are a number of reasons for this.

I suspect the views of many senior managers about what makes a successful campaign need to catch-up with the mediums that actually influence audiences. People love seeing their names in the newspaper.

Also, making that piece of viral content that’s going to be seen by millions is a science that no one has mastered.

But, more important, is that the one thing self publishers lack is the independent credibility of the press.

As Burrell points out, press coverage is often called “earned media” by PRs. This is because it’s precisely that - it’s earned its right to be there as news. This gives it the credibility that advertising or self generated content could never demand.

As Burrell mentions, press releases being churned out by mainstream media (churnalism) is a danger for journalism.

But this is also a danger for PR, rather than an opportunity for more coverage.

It’s in no ones interest for it to become easier for the PR profession to get its stories covered in the media. Diminishing the credibility of the press through publishing verbatim press releases  takes away the very thing that the PR profession is working so hard to secure – the press' independent authority on what is genuine news.