Following is a roundup of 10 interesting PR- and media-related stories found online last week:
What Social Media Content Can Journalists Publish?: More journalists are relying on social media to find ideas and sources, which brings some questions to center stage: "Are tweets and Facebook posts from ordinary citizens fair game for reporting if the writers didn’t intend for them to be public? What about private individuals who find themselves at the center of a news event?" While the general sentiment is that Twitter is inherently public, Facebook is a lot more nuanced. Until guidelines are firmly in place, there are questions journalists should be asking themselves. (Poynter)
The Metrics Every PR Team Should Track: Adam Singer, product marketing manager for Google Analytics and editor of The Future Buzz, shares some insights in this interview, including two Google Analytics metrics every PR team should be closely monitoring: referring sources (high traffic and conversion) and outcomes/value generated from social. (BlueGlass)
How to Make Sure Your News Gets Coverage: "If you work in media relations today, and you’re having a hard time getting coverage for your news, you’re doing something wrong." Here are two things to ask yourself: Are you talking to the right journalists? Do you have a newsworthy story? Regarding the latter, sometimes newsworthiness is just a matter of how you package the news in your pitch. (Journalistics)
Every News Organization Should Have a 'River': Every news organization should define a community of bloggers -- people who write with passion about their expertise. As news organizations begin a long process of transformation, a good first step is to let readers in on what they're reading. "And once you’ve shown them what pubs you’re reading, a natural next step is to aggregate them into a river, a newsfeed of postings from all the blogs and news orgs you follow." This accomplishes many things. For example: it makes your site more valuable by having more news flow through it; it creates a cost-free bond between you and your readers; and it will help you spot trends you wouldn't otherwise see. (Nieman Journalism Lab)
The Unwritten Rules of PR Writing: PR pros are "writing chameleons," adjusting tone, cadence and tension when they write. Though this is intuitive, there are three unwritten rules to follow: 1) create tension, 2) use clauses well, and 3) use anecdotes and analogies in speeches. (The Buzz Bin)
Old Media Embraces New Media: Traditional news organizations are embracing new media in big ways. "What were once simply great newspapers, magazines, television, and radio are now websites with all the trappings, and that's where the audiences seem to be headed in droves." The survivors in the industry will be those who learn how to serve readers in any media and on any platform. (The Atlantic)
PR Has Become a 'Lightning Rod for Mistrust': Lord Tim Bell, head of the U.K.-based PR firm Bell Pottinger, recently said that public relations has become a "lightning rod for mistrust" because of its reputation within business and society. This isn't a new sentiment, but it is a call for the industry to take reputational and ethics issues seriously. (PRSAY)
Five Steps for Building a Social Listening Program: "If anyone is talking about your industry, you, or your competition in comments of blogs, news articles, video or the social networks, you now have the opportunity to decide if you want to say something." Here are five things to do to build a social listening program: 1) develop your keywords; 2) monitor Twitter; 3) follow blogs and Google Search; 4) participate in blog comments, Q&A sites, forums and discussion boards; and 5) use a dashboard. (Spin Sucks)
The High Cost of Investigative Journalism: How much does good investigative journalism cost? The executive editor of The News & Observer in North Carolina said it's not unusual for the paper to spend $150,000 to $200,000 on a single reporting project. This brings up the question of how many of these projects are done a year, and how many reporters that kind of budget could pay for. (Media, disrupted)
Bloggers Are Not Journalists if They Ask for Money: Crystal Cox is the self-described "investigative blogger" who was sued by a financial company for defamation. Anyone who supported her as a member of the media could look foolish if evidence pointing to her attempt at making money off of the damage she caused is true. The judge in the case has ordered Cox to pay the company $2.5 million, and has clarified his position on the media status of bloggers. He's done journalists a big favor. (Forbes)
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