IS IT TRUE PR no longer need journalists? Let's discuss why public relations (PR) or public relations (PR) is said to no longer need journalists or media crews. This is related to media relations and public relations duties.
The opinion “public relations no longer needs journalists” was expressed by Jason Falls, founder of Social Media Explorer, in an article with a provocative title: “Sorry Journalists, We Don't Need You Anymore”.
“Sorry Journalists, We Don't Need You Anymore!” Falls said.
I agree with Falls, with notes:
- Public relations practitioners already have journalistic skills like journalists
- The institution's internal media – especially websites and social media – are able to compete with the press media (news sites/online media) which are managed by journalists.
In the past, public relations really needed journalists to publish their activities, socialize, and/or promote their institution's programs. Now, all institutions, both government agencies and private/business institutions, have websites and social media.
By having their own media (website and social media), an institution is free to publish, socialize, and promote.
The trend, in fact, is that journalists are now diligently opening agency websites or following social media accounts of agencies, figures, officials, artists, etc. to get the latest releases or news from an agency, if they do not receive a direct release from the public relations or marketing department.
So, public relations no longer needs journalists, it could be true, with that note – the public relations circles have journalistic abilities that are equivalent to professional journalists and their public relations media are managed professionally as well.
Media Losing Readers
The view of “public relations no longer needs journalists” put forward by Falls is based on the fact that the popularity of the media, especially print media, has decreased.
The facts, according to Falls, are these:
- Paid newspaper subscriptions have continued to decline at a rate of 2-3 percent every six months since 2005 (Editors & Publishers)
- Several major dailies experienced a sharper subscription decline in 2007. (Editors & Publishers)
- Audiences for nightly news have dropped one million readers per year for 25 consecutive years (Nielsen Media Research)
- 2007 featured the least-viewed week in history for the four major television networks (Associated Press)
- Now as if journalism needed more of a stay-at-home push, there has emerged an outpost for online citizen journalism (citizen journalism).
Falls also points out that the blogosphere's data is starting to garner followers. There are many blogs such as news sites that provide a wide variety of current information and opinions.
Because PR has its own media and can use bloggers to spread publications (content placement), then the publicist can say “We no longer need you, journalists!”.
For example, the Automotive Journalists Forum was offended when Daihatsu first gave a number of Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) a chance to test the All New Daihatsu Terios.
Journalists vs Influencers
Currently news media or journalists compete with influencers, including buzzers and buzzerp. Public relations can use influencers and buzzers as "substitutes" for journalists.
To quote Mix, in the past, people were only influenced by the news that journalists spread through their media, but now, with the advent of digital, the public has the choice to choose the information they want to get or believe, either from journalists (media) or influencers – such as bloggers. , selebgram, selebtwit, and youtubers.
In fact, there are also journalists who work double as influencers or leave their journalism profession to later become an influencer. However, most media are not influencers, and not all journalists are influencers.
“Most influencers aren’t journalists, and not all journalists are influencers. But sometimes, their powers are combined in a super-influential hybrid who drives conversations,” demikian pendapat Devon Wijesinghe, CEO of Insightpool, seperti dirilis di PRweek.com.
However, Devon emphasized that journalists or journalists still have the power and at the same time the most caliber to trust or correct information.
The reason is that they work for institutions that maintain and properly guard these standards. In fact, most of these organizations prohibit their journalists from accepting payments of any kind.
Mass Media Disruption
"The current phenomenon of mass media disruption has occurred which is marked by the use of influencers in providing information compared to journalists." This was reported by AyoBekasi.
In the past, when the sole agent holding the brand had a new car product, journalists liked to be invited to go abroad. Now, they invite a lot of influencers.
"This is a challenge for the media and journalists in this era of media disruption," said Business Director of Thoughts of the People Januar P Ruswita at the seminar "The Role of the Press in the Era of Media Disruption in Bandung, March 12, 2020.
He stated that internet technology has changed the world of mass media and journalism, including consumption behavior and commercial products.
The content production process has changed, especially in the selection, confirmation, check and re-check, editing, and code of ethics.
On the news source side, there is a tendency for journalists to use social media as a news source. In Indonesia, as many as 9 out of 10 journalists use social media as a source of information. There is a tendency for news to be made first, to catch up with speed and a large number of readers.
So, how about it, does public relations really don't need journalists anymore? IMHO, PR still needs journalists, especially journalists media mainstream which is a "reference to the truth" of a news and the number of readers is very large. Greetings.*
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