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average, a VNR will get a median of 18 usages from a possible 700 out
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lets, says Nick Peters, Medialink’s vice president of operations.
110
Corporate use of VNRs has the advantage of making a message more
memorable to a news audience, largely because of the credibility as
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signed to television news programming.
111
No claim can be made, how
-
ever, that attitudes are influenced, at least not by a single exposure.
To increase the acceptance of VNRs, public relations practitioners are
advised to send the traditional pitch letter with story angles, accompa
-
nied by press conference footage, sound bites, and raw footage. Sending
some printed materials in advance of a story is not only more cost effec
-
tive but also helps journalists view the public relations practitioner as
more of a partner and less of a manipulator in the news process.
112
Media relations practitioners should also avoid making some mis
-
takes that discourage TV stations from airing VNRs. Media Relations In
-
side, a newsletter, gives this advice:
• Approach the story like a reporter. Douglas Simon, president and
CEO of New York’s D.S. Simon Productions, said to focus on what’s
news to the public, not to your own organization. USA Today, he
says, does this by covering stories of interest to people nationwide
and writing to the lay person. Try to make the VNR fit the style of a
local newscast, which can be achieved by hiring producers and
crews with broadcast news backgrounds who understand the need
to tell a good story with creative visuals and no industry jargon.
• Don’t go over 90 seconds.
• Use highly credentialed experts with broad knowledge. Sally
Jewett, president of Los Angeles-based On the Scene Productions,
advises securing independent endorsements from credible spokes-
people who are willing to appear on the video.
• Understand the distribution format your contacts want. Sending
out a VNR by satellite might be a good idea for time-sensitive vid-
eos. Some outlets, however, like CNN, only accept videos on tapes.
The Internet has become another outlet for VNRs.
113
Many TV stations prefer to use the background materials of a VNR
but not the supplied commentary. It is advisable, therefore, to send a
B-roll, the supplementary or backup material. It generally follows the
primary material on the same cassette in which alternate scenes are ar
-
ranged on two reels, an A-roll and a B-roll, and then assembled.
114
Sponsor and Cite Public Policy Polls. Newspapers, magazines,
and broadcasters seem eager to use poll findings. In 1990, after the first
in-house poll of the Detroit Free Press in the mid-1960s, 82% of national
newspapers (with circulation of 100,000 and over) and about half of the
television stations were engaged in polling, according to a study con
-
ducted by the Roper Center.
115
The New York Times has been among the
122 I CHAPTER 4
first media organizations to do in-house research and their own polls,
often in collaboration with a major survey company. The caliber of the
New York Times—and CBS News—polls is often comparable to that of ac
-
ademic surveys.
Problems arise, however, with polls conducted by smaller local news
outlets or made available by external organizations. Some of these are
Internet polls, which “are not real polls and the results mean nothing,”
according to Lori Robertson in an article on “Poll Crazy.”
116
Low-budget
press operations are nevertheless tempted to use these polls. The New
York Times, however, discourages the use of a poll conducted by an exter
-
nal organization if the organization won’t describe its methods or
claims proprietary methods. As polls have become ubiquitous, the dan
-
ger is that poor practices can lead to an overall decline in the credibility
of survey research in general.
117
Mervin D. Field, chairman of Field Research, explains why polls are so
popular with the media. The media realized, he said, that the public puts
an inordinate value on impeccable arithmetic: “If something adds up to
100 percent, this fact conveys an aura of something perfect and pos-
sessed of values that often do not exist.”
118
Actually, news commenta-
tors unwillingly give survey results a precision they do not possess. For
example, when Walter Cronkite announced that 65% of Americans sup-
ported the Supreme Court decision on abortion and that this percentage
had a tolerance of 4 percentage points plus or minus, he implied, at
worst the percentage might be a low of 61% or a high of 69%. Actually,
however, the figures might be further off because of sources of more
serious errors.
Supporting the view that reporters understandably find a number of
superficial advantages of polls difficult to resist, Warren Miofsky and
Martin Plissner state:
For starters, a good many polls can legitimately be called scientific. The
statisticians who do the work often hold degrees entitling them to be
known as “Doctor.” The poll very likely bears the trademark of a firm called
something like Research Analysis, Inc., of Princeton, Arkansas. Unlike any
-
thing else in journalism, the scientific poll also does not flinch at the notion
of error. It boldly proclaims it—telling you, in percentage points, how
wrong it is going to allow itself to be. This is the scientific way of doing
things. You don’t fight error; you measure it.
119
Mervin Field feared the trend of using public policy polls would re
-
sult in confusion, suspicion, and a negative image of survey research
methods. What’s wrong is not their use, he said, but how polls are con
-
ducted and publicized (see Box 4.8). Any organization has the right to
sponsor an opinion survey to demonstrate to politicians and the public
that public opinion is on their side—especially when the contrary is
claimed by the media or opponents. In a democracy public opinion is
supposed to count.
PROACTIVE MEDIA RELATIONS I 123
When reporting on a poll, writers should consider how reporters
treat such information. They need to interpret the data and to make a
story out of it, instead of just citing numbers. Warren Miofsky says,
“When they cite numbers they put the burden on the reader to draw the
conclusions. The numbers are boring. The conclusions based on those
numbers are not.” To do this, poll reporters’ main tasks are: “1) know-
ing how sampling works so they can interpret the data properly includ-
ing understanding the limits to a survey’s precision, and 2) providing
necessary context—trend data, news events, etc.—that give the num-
bers meaning.” Miofsky also suggests that reporters borrow from social
sciences by starting with a hypothesis and see if the data support it or
not. The surprise of a knocked-down hypothesis can wind up being the
big news. An example for the ages is “Clinton Job Approval Despite
Lewinsky.”
122
The media must also do their part by not blindly swallowing every
statistic that is handed out to them. They should follow the advice of
Philip Meyer in Precision Journalism, who lists minimum information
that should be presented with every published survey:
1. Identity of the sponsor of the survey.
2. Exact wording of the key questions asked.
3. Description of the population sampled.
4. Sample size and, when relevant, response rate.
5. Some indication of the allowance that should be made for sam
-
pling error.
124 I CHAPTER 4
Box 4.8 Hill & Knowlton’s Questionable Publicity of Survey
Results
Journalistic ignorance of polling techniques and ethics further in
-
creases reporters’ vulnerability. For example, in 1980 Hill &
Knowlton, then the largest public relations firm in the United
States, arranged simultaneous press conferences in five cities to
publicize the results of a poll favorable to its client, the American
Trucking Association. It referred to survey results that indicated
there was “virtually no public support for the move in Congress to
deregulate the nation’s trucking industry,” a finding that was subse
-
quently cited by wire services and a number of regional papers.
120
What Hill & Knowlton did not state was that the survey firm, Group
Attitudes, was its subsidiary and that the publicized finding was
based on slender data. Only about 3% of a sample of 405 respon-
dents—or only 12 persons—mentioned that the industry should be
deregulated, hardly enough to warrant a major announcement at a
press conference.
121
6. How interviews were collected: in person in homes, by phone, and
so on.
7. When the interviews were collected.
123
A longer list based on the guidelines of the American Association for
Public Opinion Research also lists: (a) who conducted the survey; (b) a
description of the sample selection procedure, including whether the re
-
spondents were self-selected; (c) precision of the findings; (d) location of
data collection; and (e) if applicable, an indication of the results that are
based on parts of the sample rather than the whole sample.
124
Reach Journalists Through the Internet
Making news available to reporters online is an increasingly important
way to make corporate news more attractive and accessible to the me-
dia. It is transforming the way journalists work, allowing them to do
their jobs “faster, better, and cheaper.”
125
Reporters use the Internet as a
daily source of story ideas, background, and facts about fast-breaking
events. According to the seventh annual study in 2000, The Middleberg/
Ross Survey of Media in the Wired World, nearly all (98%) of the 4,000
print and broadcast journalists participating in the survey reported go-
ing online at last daily to check e-mail. They spend about 15 hours each
week reading and sending e-mail. Net usage by journalists is at an all-
time high in each of the following categories:
• Article research and to retrieve reference material (86%).
• Obtain press releases online (72%).
• Find new sources and experts to interview and quote (71%).
• Read publications online (70%).
• Accept story ideas and pitches (54%).
• Download still images or video for use in their work (46%).
126
Although reporters prefer a live source for a breaking story, reporters
use company websites as their second most important source. Espe
-
cially in a crisis situation, reporters will supplement information from
live spokespeople by going online to enrich and expand their stories.
After business hours when sources are unavailable, the importance of
websites increases significantly.
Corporate websites. Because reporter use of online resources is
now common practice and with the advent of real-time news cycles and
online scoops, corporations are advised to open websites and keep them
as accurate and up-to-date as possible. According to a 2001 study of
Fortune 500 company websites, only a little over a third of them (195)
provide clearly labeled press room site areas focused on assisting jour
-
nalists. The most commonly used label was “News Room” (60 compa
-
PROACTIVE MEDIA RELATIONS I 125
nies), followed by “Press Room” (40 companies). Companies ranking
higher on the Fortune 500 are more likely to have press rooms than com
-
panies ranking lower. The study also suggested that press rooms be
linked from the home page, which nearly two thirds of sites with press
rooms included as a key public.
127
To be of value, press rooms must contain relevant content. The most
extensive press room contained 16 items, but the average number was
only 6.5.
128
The 12 items most frequently included in all company web-
sites were as follows:
• Press/news releases: 96.9%% of companies.
• Executive bios/profiles: 51.3% of companies.
• Executive photographs: 48.7% of companies.
• Company fact sheets: 35.4% of companies.
• Annual reports—financial: 33.8% of companies.
• Company history: 31.8% of companies.
• News alert service for media: 30.8% of companies.
• Company staff speeches and presentations: 29.7% of companies.
• Product or company-in-action photos: 28.2% of companies.
• Press release search engine: 25.6% of companies.
• Company logos for use in publication: 22.6% of companies.
• Media kits: 21.0% of companies.
129
Ideally, according to Los Angeles Times Syndicate columnist Larry
Migid, what is really wanted is one-stop shopping for an array of media
materials.
130
Also desirable is the listing of a practitioner by name as a
media contact, which more than half of all press rooms did. Corpora-
tions should also endeavor to be listed prominently with the major
search engines because journalists first turn to them and directories
such as Yahoo! and Alta Vista to locate information.
Corporate sources are warned, however, that the credibility of their
information is not assured. Business sources face greater resistance be
-
cause findings show that 59% of journalists are likely to use free online
information from nonprofits versus 50% from business.
131
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ENLARGED MEDIA MENU
Public affairs communicators looking for outlets for their messages are
no longer limited to the traditional news media of local television news,
network television news, newspapers, radio news, and news maga
-
zines. As the Economist reported in 1998: “Until two years ago, Ameri
-
cans had three evening news shows, one cable news network and a
couple of weekly news-magazine programmes. Now it has three eve
-
ning news programmes, ten weekly hour-long news-magazine shows,
three cable news networks, three cable business news networks, two
sports news networks and three new websites furnished with video.”
132
126 I CHAPTER 4
Communicators could take advantage of an enlarged media menu. They
are advised to do so, because as Herb B. Berkowitz and Edwin J. Feulner,
Jr. observed, “a handful of elite news organizations no longer controls
the agenda and defines the terms of the debate.”
133
Changes in Regular Viewership and Readership
CNN was heralded as the major entry into the news media a decade ago.
While serving as the Navy’s chief of information, Rear Admiral Brent
Baker said, “I believe CNN is the dominant factor in the news media to
-
day. Clearly we must all understand that in the 1990s CNN has arrived
with the technological and editorial ability to reach out instantaneously
and globally.”
134
Baker later envisioned that “tomorrow’s crisis will be
covered by a new group of international multimedia giants—such as
the Microsoft-NBC cable television and cyberspace network and the new
Global Fox News Channel.”
135
Its reporters would be computer savvy
and multimedia trained. They would be less dependent on government
news releases because they could go directly into government records
with computer-assisted research methods.
136
They would be better
equipped with new lightweight digital satellite and multimedia
cyberspace gear and therefore less dependent on government communi-
cations gear or blessing.
137
He warns all players—government leaders,
military leaders, journalists, and media owners—had better realize no
one is in control of information as they were in the good old days of the
early 1990s.
138
By 2001, CNN, the original 24-hour cable news network, which was
started in 1980, became a division of media giant AOL Time Warner and
faced competition from Fox and MSNBC. The number of viewers watch-
ing CNN dropped 2% in 2000 as Fox News grew by 62% and MSNBC by
25%. CNN’s rescue plan called for greater efficiency by cutting 400 CNN
staff from its 42 foreign bureaus and 1,000 overseas staff. It also sought
to make shows more “dynamic,” and to this end it hired Andrea Thomp
-
son, an actress from NYPD Blue, a cop series, as one of its Headline News
anchors.
139
By the beginning of 2002, cable was the top overall source of news for
Americans. Kohut states, “The public has come to believe that if you
want national news you go to cable.” The audience for network news
dropped by 50% in the last 10 years. Their coverage has also dropped as
they got rid of expensive foreign bureaus and switched to cheaper life
-
style and celebrity news, says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for
Excellence in Journalism. CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson listed
the following size audiences for the three top cable news channels: CNN,
86 million homes; Fox News, 77 million; MSNBC, 73 million.
140
The Pew Research Center’s biennial news survey, conducted among
slightly more than 3,000 adults shows that viewership of nightly net
-
work news has declined sharply, from 60% in 1993 to 32% in 2002, as
PROACTIVE MEDIA RELATIONS I 127
shown in Box 4.9. In April 2000, however, viewership was only 30%, in
-
dicating that the steady erosion of this audience may have abated.
Newspaper readership continues to inch downward, with a large por
-
tion of this decline occurring in the 35- to 49-year-old age category. Less
time per day is spent reading a newspaper, down from 19 minutes a day
in 1994 to 15 minutes in 2002.
“Alternative Media”
The traditional media of newspapers, network news, and local TV news
have been joined by cable TV news, TV news magazines, network morn
-
ing news, call-in radio shows, and online news. Some loosely call these
newer media and formats the “alternative media.” To this category are
added such grocery store tabloids as the National Enquirer, niche maga
-
zines, and a variety of program formats.
Audiences can now turn to mainstream talk radio, cable and direct-
satellite television, new computer technologies, and alternative news-
papers and periodicals. Radio talk shows have multiplied and increased
their impact, as have television magazine programs such as 911, A Cur-
rent Affair, and Hard Copy.
141
Use of computer media, such as the
Internet and online services, is also expected to grow.
142
Searching for alternative media for its political messages, the Bush
administration recently used niche magazines: President Bush appeared
in Runner’s World, a magazine he has been a fan of; White House lobby-
ist Nicholas E. Calio appeared in Wine Spectator; national security advi-
sor Condoleezza Rice appeared in Vogue; and White House Spokesman
Ari Fleischer was on the cover of the alumni magazine of his alma mater.
The advantages of these niche magazines are several:
128 I CHAPTER 4
Box 4.9 Trends in Regular News Consumption
May 1993 April 1998 April 2002
Local TV news 77% 64 57%
Cable TV news — — 33
Nightly network news 60 38 32
Network TV magazines 52 37 24
Network morning news — 23 22
Radio 474941
Call-in radio shows 23 13 17
National Public Radio 15 15 16
Newspaper 58 48 41
Online news — 13 25
143
• They don’t cover troublesome topics, such as Iraq, the economy, or
corporate malfeasance, and offer a “feel-good” tone for the White
House.
• They reach far more people than newspapers. Wine Spectator’s cir
-
culation is 325,000; Runner’s World is 520,000, and Vogue’s is 1.2
million. The demographics of these audiences is what the White
House seeks to expand its political base: “They’re trying to pick off
people who are open and independent,” said Michael K. Deaver,
Ronald Reagan’s public relations advisor. “If they get a portion of
those over the years by building up that regular guy impression,
yeah, I think it gets votes.”
144
One way to view the alternative media is to distinguish between the
reportorial media and the access media. As exemplified by network tele
-
vision news, reportorial media are closed, controlling, and judgmental.
In contrast, access media are open, revelatory, direct-to-audience enter-
taining media. They include television host and call-in shows, radio talk
shows, public affairs panels, advertorials in print media, television
advertorials, and radiomercials. Carol Mashe, executive director of the
National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts, not surprisingly
believes, that of all the media, talk show hosts are the most powerful
because they are the most personal.
145
Chapter 8 gives further examples
of how Bill Clinton and other politicians used alternative media. The
next chapter, on broadcast appearances, illustrates the powerful effects
of radio talk show.
CONCLUSIONS
Taking the initiative is a prerequisite to gaining greater control over the
media. Media relations specialists who formerly worked as journalists
find it easy to become a part of the news creation process by writing
news releases that promote their company’s viewpoint. They also en
-
courage high-credibility sources with like-minded views to submit sto
-
ries. Going one step further, corporate news staffs may create events
that serve as the basis of newsworthy stories. They can use alternative
media to disseminate their stories.
Corporate communicators are increasingly willing to apply various
forms of pressure to obtain at least fair, if not favorable, treatment.
These pressures range from threatening to withdraw advertising to de
-
manding corrections or rebuttal time when company news is distorted
or seen as unfair. Because company news is a valuable resource, corpo
-
rate communicators can also set conditions for cooperation. Further
-
more, through media subsidies such as supplying VNRs, results of
commissioned surveys, and various other background materials, com
-
panies are learning how to make their stories appealing to the news me
-
dia. The chances of conveying their messages in a favorable manner to
the public have been greatly enhanced.
PROACTIVE MEDIA RELATIONS I 129
ENDNOTES
1. Steve Crescenzo, “Disney’s Cheesey Public Relations,” The Strategist, Vol. 3,
Fall 1987, pp. 17–21.
2. Richard Turner, “Disney Hopes Retreat Is Better Part of Public Relations,” Wall
Street Journal, September 30, 1994, p. B4. Also see background: Linda
Feldmann, “Disney Theme Park Sparks New Civil War in Virginia,” Christian
Science Monitor, June 28, 1994, p. 10; and Katharine Q. Seelye, “A New Battle of
Manassas Is Under Way in the Senate,” New York Times, June 22, 1994, p. A16.
3. “Hunting Disney,” Economist, February 14, 2004, p. 9.
4. Robert L. Dilenschneider, “Forming a Distinctive Company Image,” in
Dartnell’s Public Relations Handbook (Chicago: The Dartnell Corporation,
1996), p. 376.
5. Hedrick Smith, The Power Game: How Washington Works (New York: Ballantine,
1988), p. 401.
6. Ibid., pp. 402–409.
7. Alicia Mundy, “Is the Press Any Match for Powerhouse PR?” Business and Soci
-
ety Review, Vol. 87, Fall 1993, p. 34.
8. Ibid.
9. Lawrence K. Altman, “The Doctor’s World; Some Authors in Medical Journals
May Be Paid by ‘Spin Doctors,’” New York Times, October 4, 1994, p. C3.
10. Ibid.
11. Emily Friedman, Medical World News, May 1991, pp. 16-18, as reported by
pr reporter, October 11, 1991.
12. Bill Carter, “Anxious Pill Maker Puts ABC Interview of Its Chief on the Web,”
New York Times, October 7, 1999, p. A23.
13. Ibid.
14. Howard Kurtz, “Over-the-Counter Strategy; Preemptive Interview a Coup
for Metabolife,” Washington Post, October 25, 1999, p. C1.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Jamie Reno and John Leland, with Anne Underwood and Ana Figueroa,
“Heavy Meddling,” Newsweek, October 18, 1999, p. 56.
18. Otto Lerbinger, The Crisis Manager: Facing Risk and Responsibility (Mahwah,
N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997), p. 325.
19. Dean Brent Baker, interview by author, December 19, 1996.
20. “Reporters Rate Web Pages,” Public Relations Tactics, Vol. 3, August 1996, p. 19.
21. Melvin J. Thompson of Clarke & Company, a major Boston public relations
firm, gives the example of a story about a client filed with the wire services
by a Boston Globe writer. The firm’s computerized “real time news monitor
-
ing,” which it calls “InfoAdvantage,” spotted the story, and an immediate
critical review of it showed that it contained inaccuracies that were damag
-
ing to the client. There was time to call the writer and ask him to make a cor
-
rection, which he was willing to do. Thompson explains that the firm’s
InfoAdvantage system works well for clients who receive much news cover
-
age. When a client is facing a crisis, the computer printout is checked at least
every hour. One of the firm’s computers is dedicated to this service. Searches
are made for stories about both organizations and subject matter. Melvin J.
Thompson, vice president for interactive communication, telephone con
-
versation with author on December 20, 1996.
22. Beth Snyder, “Bad Rap: Companies Patrol Internet for Online Abuse,” The
Freedom Forum Online, June 22, 1998.
130 I CHAPTER 4
23. Steve Ulfelder, “Lies, Damn Lies, and the Internet” Computerworld, July 14,
1998, p. 75. Among the companies that have been targeted are Sears,
Roebuck and Co., General Electric (the message was, “Beware of GE Micro
-
waves”), AT&T (“Deceptive Practices—Know the Facts!”), MCI Communica
-
tions, Kmart, and Wal-Mart Stores (“Best Buy is Consumer Unfriendly! and
Wal-Mart too!”).
24. Marcia Stepanek, “You Called Our Widget a What?” Business Week, Septem
-
ber 25, 2000, p. 188.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Shel Holtz, Public Relations on the Net, 2nd edition (New York: AMACOM,
2002), pp. 286–287.
28. Ibid.
29. Gary C. Woodward, Perspectives on American Political Media (Boston: Allyn &
Bacon, 1997), p. 40.
30. Ibid., p. 41. Woodward quotes Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover, Whose
Broad Stripes and Bright Stars? The Trivial Pursuit of the Presidency, 1988 (New
York: Warner, 1989), p. 428.
31. Alicia C. Shepard, “Talk Is Expensive,” American Journalism Review, Vol. 16,
May 1994, pp. 20–27.
32. See Alicia Shepard, “Take the Money and Talk,” American Journalism Review,
Vol. 17, June 1995, pp. 18–25.
33. Allen H. Center and Frank E. Walsh, “Chrysler/Consumers Union Square
Off,” in Public Relations Practices: Managerial Case Studies and Problems, 3rd
edition (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1985), pp. 234–241.
34. Richard S. Dunham, book review by Howard Kurtz, Spin Cycle—Inside the
Clinton Propaganda Machine (New York: Free Press, 1998), Business Week,
March 30, 1998, p. 17.
35. Herb Schmertz with William Novak, Good-Bye to the Low Profile: The Art of
Creative Confrontation (Boston: Little, Brown, 1986), p. 8.
36. Ibid.
37. The study was conducted by Florida International University (Miami) public
relations students. See pr reporter, December 3, 2001, p. 4.
38. Ibid., p. 102.
39. Ibid., p. 79.
40. Mundy, op. cit., p. 34.
41. See “Watchdog Watch,” American Journalism Review, Vol. 15, April 1993, pp.
32–34; Andrew Randolph, “An Expensive Rebuttal,” Editor & Publisher,
March 30, 1985, p. 13, in connection with Three Mile Island, showing a
double page ad by General Public Utilities in the Philadelphia Inquirer to pro
-
test the newspaper’s stories on the company’s safety procedures in cleaning
up the reactor.
42. The case is described in “Taking the Offensive Against ‘Trial by Television’
…,” pr reporter, Vol. 25, February 23, 1981, p. 1.
43. The ad, titled “Good News,” is from a Kaiser Aluminum press kit.
44. “Taking the Offensive Against ‘Trial by Television,’” op. cit.
45. “Kaiser at Last Gets Equal Time,” pr reporter, Vol. 24, August 17, 1981, p. 2.
46. Stephan Lesher, Media Unbound (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1982), p. 163.
47. “Taking the Offensive Against ‘Trial by Television,’” op. cit.
48. Smith, op. cit., p. 425.
49. “Celanese’s Hard-Line Media Strategy,” pr reporter, Vol. 22, November 19,
1979, p. 3.
PROACTIVE MEDIA RELATIONS I 131