Media release

Before reading this particular chapter (Chapter 11 - Engaging with the media), I do not really know how to write a media release. I have tried writing before for a certain module but still, I do not really know how to do so. The reading gave me tips on how to write a good media release. It is somewhat like a news story but it contains more details on one point. The media release is summarised into a news story.

An example of a bad media release:

Stolkin publishes paper in elite journal

Rustam Stolkin, Research Assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, has recently lead-authored and published a paper in the Institute of Physics Publishing’s journal, Measurement Science and Technology.

A focus of Dr. Stolkin’s research is robotic vision, developing algorithms which enable computers to make sense of the world by “looking” at it through video cameras. One important use of these techniques is to enable a robot to navigate by visually determining its position with respect to an observed object or scene.
To properly test these algorithms, one needs video sequences for which the camera’s true position at every frame has already been measured. These “ground-truth” positions can then be compared with the estimated positions created by the robotic vision algorithm, to see if they are correct. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to generate such ground-truth video sequences, making it difficult for robot vision researchers to prove that their algorithms actually work.

Dr. Stolkin and his collaborators have solved this problem by using a robot arm to move a video camera, filming a variety of video sequences along identical camera trajectories. Some of these sequences feature visually interesting scenes which are fed to the vision algorithm. Other sequences feature black “calibration targets” containing grids of white dots. By analyzing the position of the dots in each image, the camera’s position can be calculated. These positions can then be used as ground-truth for corresponding images in the visually interesting sequences used to test the vision algorithm.

The paper appears in the current online edition and is available free online at http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/-ffissn=0957-0233/-ff30=all/0957-0233/17/10/026. It will be featured in the October 2006 print version of MST.

The link to the article: http://www.stevensnewsservice.com/pr/pr802.htm

This media release is bad because it has too much information in the first paragraph. I may start it off by saying about the importance of the paper and what is the paper about. Later on, provide background information about the writer.

Of course, I am not quite sure still on what makes a good media release. From this media release though, I find that the writer has mentioned many difficult terms such as “vision algorithm” and the steps taken to solve the problem seems complicated. I do not understand the steps.

The writer may improve this by highlighting the significance of this research and how it can impact the public. He should take a different approach in writing the media release. Instead of summarizing what the paper is about, he should relate the paper with the daily lives of the public. This can simplify the entire media release and make it easier to understand.

Practising PR

This reading (Chapter 6 - Theory and practice on the job) helps me to distinguish the various roles and responsibilities for different levels of the public relations practitioner. As the level goes up, the salary will increase and so is the number of roles and the weight of the responsibilities.

According to Stephen Davies (2010), there are 12 steps to a successful campaign. The following are the list of the 12 steps.
1) Research
2) Situation Analysis
3) Objectives
4) Strategy
5) Identifying publics
6) Identifying stakeholders
7) Key messages
8) Tactics
9) Timescale
10) Budget
11) Crisis issues and management place
12) Evaluation

Link: http://stedavies.com/2006/06/12-steps-to-a-successful-pr-campaign/

Most of the points are as mentioned in the text book. As the list shows, a public relations campaign requires much effort to be carried out and this effort is spread out among the team of public relations practitioners. It is not just a one-man show sort of project. It can be, however, depending on the scale of the campaign. Thus, I think that one more step to a successful campaign besides the above would be team work. Only with cohesiveness and cooperation, it will ensure everything is going accordingly. Thus, it can help to avoid sabotages or conflicts which may disrupt the development of the campaign.

The Research

This reading tells me the importance of researching. It is tedious yet fulfilling to do. Doing research can help the public relations practitioner to understand more about the attitudes of the public, able to set up benchmark and so on (Synnott, 2009). In any case, I think that having a good and thorough research is one of the crucial steps to success in a campaign or event.

According to IPRA (1994), research is necessary at all levels of public relations formulating of plans and executing them out. I have to agree with this. You need to research in the beginning to find out what is the most appropriate thing to do next. Later on, you need to make sure that you are meeting the budget or the target that is set out by the organisation. Then, you need to ensure that everybody is doing what they are assigned to do. Finally, you need to know whether your campaign or event has attained its purpose.

Thus, this reading made me learn to appreciate the hard work from various events or companies such as the IT show in Singapore, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and World Vision. They went through so much to get this far. For SPCA, it has started in 1800s, however, it becomes more known to the public in 1970s (Singapore Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 2009). Animal welfare work was more understood by the public with the use of media coverage in newspapers and the television only in the 1980s and 1990s. It takes nearly a hundred years to make the organisation more known to the public! This was what the public relations practitioners had done, together with the help of other departments as well and it is not an easy task to do.

In a nutshell, this reading gives me a better understanding of the processes of research by the public relations practitioners and it is important for the practitioners to be updated on the latest news and events going on around the world and the implications of them.

Two is better than one

As indicated by the title, I will be combining two readings into one post. =)

Chapter 3: Theoretical context

The chapter’s title tells that the entire chapter will be covering on theories of Public Relations. According to it, there are four steps in understanding the whole concept of public relations theory.

System theory (Step 1):

This is the basic theory of public relations. It looks upon the members within the cluster and how they interact with each other and adapt to the various circumstances they faced. This theory is foundation of the theory of public relations and it is important in ensuring that organisations dealing with public relations, in any part of the world, will be developed from this theory.

This theory, in my own opinion, is one of the more important theories in the chapter which helps in giving people a general idea of how public relations work. This theory summarises that public relations deals with not just the external factors such as the economy of the organisations but the internal factors such as the way the members interact with each other.

Rhetorical and interpretive perspectives (Step 4):

This step, is another important theory, which helps to assess how successful the campaign or program is. It helps public relations practitioners to find out how people feedback to certain approaches implemented, what appeals to people and how to enable people to understand the intended rationale behind the activities. If all mentioned are successfully accomplished, this will help in bring up the profile of the company and better relationships are established. Unlike steps 2 and 3, step 4 is more important because steps 2 and 3 are the processes of how to plan the campaign or program which is dependent on the creativity and flexibility of the individual that varies. Ultimately, public relations practitioners will hope that steps 2 and 3 will lead to a positive outcome in which for some cases are hard to measure or identify specifically. There can thousands of ways to do something but only a few of them can work. In my opinion, step 4 is the crucial step in identifying the ways which can work.

In conclusion, this chapter is interesting as it helps me to see public relations in a small scale. It specifies in how public relations is being developed and how do public relations practitioners work through the use of theories.

Chapter 4: Public Relations ethics

I think that public relations ethics are to consistently remind the practitioners of their moral values and their beliefs. They need to think twice before carrying out any activities. Referring to the virtue ethics as mentioned in the book, the personal values and the character of the practitioners impacts greatly on how they will do their activities. The ethics codes exists but being inflexible, there are certain circumstances where the practitioners may choose to ignore these codes and do it in the way which they presume is the most suitable.

Thus, it is very difficult to maintain an ethical behavior. Sometimes, it is not the public relations practitioner who can decide to be ethical or not, it can be the company who insists on being not ethical.

Ethics may be important in upholding the reputation of the company; however, it is not always that an unethical act of the practitioner is being exposed. And the reputation of this company is still being upheld as long as the unethical acts are not uncovered.

For consequentialism, I feel that it is not quite applicable to today’s society. The consequences are all predicted, there is little or no substantiation in them. This is because the consequences are difficult to predict due to the rapid changes occurring in the society. An activity takes weeks or months to be implemented, by then, what sort of changes have take place? Reflecting on them may help the practitioners to avoid making the same mistakes again but how similar the activities which are previously carried out to the activities which are not being carried out yet? Not every situation is the same and hence, all the ethics used in one situation, cannot be used in another. Therefore, in my opinion, ethics are needed to be customized according to the scenario.

The 3rd - Lecture 3

Before this lecture, on media relations, I have never heard before the term, ‘media relations’.

At first, I thought it will be complicated but it is easy to grasp after all.

I have learnt from this lesson that writing a feature is really not an easy feat to do. Unlike writing advertisement, brochures and essays, writing a feature sort of comprises of all of these. It is to show how good the product is but not overdoing it. It provides facts and information about the product in an interesting way to capture the attention of the readers. Thus, it requires the PR person to be professional and creative.

From newspapers to magazines, there are many features written by PR people. In the past, I treat them like any other advertisement or a promotion on a certain product. Now, I understand how much time and effort is spent, to come out with features.

Angles are important in deciding on how the feature is being framed. From different angles, the same product can have its feature being written out in many ways. For example, on Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie breaking up, the media tried to make a big deal out of it to gain readership and viewership. The media did so by first reporting on a quarrel that they have and at the same time, including the part whereby they could break up. The angle which the media is focusing on is the possibility that the couple may split which drives the human interest in reading on the story. A feature’s angle is similar to this. A feature’s angle is to find out a point which drives human interest and make it work out for the product. Therefore, I feel that writing a feature can be like writing out a news story, but it requires more creativity.

In conclusion, I find this lecture is quite useful in giving us general guidelines on how to write a feature.

The 2nd-19th Jan

Research is the key to developing good strategy.

Is it really true?

Yes, it is true to a large extent as without research, a strategy may not even be developed in the first place. Research is required to gain more information about the subject which help one to understand what the subject is about. It is necessary to develop a logical strategy. Research, however, in my opinion, does not stand alone. Researching and together with one's personal experience, the strategy developed can be even better.

Through one's failures and successes in life, he can learn new skills and not to commit the same mistakes again. Such experiences can help to prevent one to come out with strategies which may be flawed, in a less obvious manner. In a common workplace, the manager or the head of a department is one who tends to be the one who come out with the strategy. Why? One reason can be that he is believed to have the expertise and capability to do so. The other members of the department may be given tasks like researching and supporting the manager with their specialised skills which include IT and designing.

However, at the same time, one can also learn from others' experiences during his course of researching. This is how research can help one in choosing the best pathway to achieve his goal as he improve on his strategy. On the other hand, it is not a first-hand experience. People may not state every limitation or advantage in their research and these unstated points may be useful in coming up with the strategy.

Therefore, it is true to a large extent that research is the key in developing a good strategy. A good research, plus personal experience which is hard to come by, in doing the assignment can help one to develop a even better strategy. In several cases, one may not have the personal experience to develop a good strategy and he would have to rely on researching. As personal experience is not easy to come by, research is thus the key to develop a good strategy.

The 1st - 13th jan

Today's lecture helped me to understand better what Public Relations (PR) is all about. Before I attend this lecture, I thought that PR generally has to do with advertising and marketing, and that's it. I realised that I am correct but I underestimate the difficulty of being a PR. It is quite challenging to be one. 

I feel that many PR skills are developed based on one's personality and not through workshops. If one is optimistic and tend to be out-spoken, he or she are in a better position in coping with the difficulties in PR. If otherwise, it can be rather torturing and tiring if one is a pessimistic and quiet person. In any case, I will not deny the possibility that one's personality may change during the workshops and that he or she may be able to perform well in the PR related responsibilities. After all, like what others say, "Nothing is impossible" if one sets his or her heart in doing it. 

For me, I can be quiet at times. I also can be pessimistic sometimes. So, like the saying which I had mentioned above, I will try my best to work hard for what I desired to be, which I am still unsure of. 

Nevertheless, I have an interest in PR and that I look forward to attending lessons in the following weeks.