Charting the Changes: Reviewing the State of the Media

The media landscape is constantly changing, making it harder on journalists. Naturally this affects how PR pros do our jobs. In this episode we talk all about it, including some points from recent survey results from Cision and MuckRack.

 

Transcript

 

Michelle Kane (00:03):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my ever steady co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen. It's another episode. Here we are.

Karen Swim, APR (00:20):

Hello Michelle. We are here. We are steady eddies. What's the female version of that? Is it steady? I don't know.

Michelle Kane (00:35):

I'm sure we can think of something

Karen Swim, APR (00:37):

For sure.

Michelle Kane (00:39):

We're creative like that.

Karen Swim, APR (00:41):

I'm so happy to be here. The older you get, the more you celebrate every single day that you are waking up and jumping out of bed.

Michelle Kane (00:52):

That's a good motivator. I will say it's true. It is true. I'm going to totally bobble this point because I forget the meme. It was something, oh, I think it was a Marcus Aurelius quote actually. Something about something to look forward to each day - for an ancient dude, he has some timely advice and I thought, yeah, I think I shared it with my thought of, yeah. “Okay. I'll tell myself this on Monday morning.”

Karen Swim, APR (01:19):

We're live, we're here and we're doing something that we love. We love this podcast. We love getting together and chatting. That's true. And just inviting a few of our friends to listen in with us.

Michelle Kane (01:32):

Yes. So we hope you are ready Today we are spurred on by a couple of reports from Cision and MuckRack talking about the state of journalism today, which as we all know, if you're listening, you may have already made a face, but hopefully we're just going to talk about this a little bit and try and bring out some of the brighter points to keep our tools sharpened.

Karen Swim, APR (02:02):

And I think as both of these reports mentioned, the more that we understand the challenges that journalists are facing, the more that we understand how to be problem solvers for them because obviously for communications professionals, journalists are definitely one of our audiences. And so it's important to learn how we can be more collaborative and more helpful. And there are a couple points that really stood out for me that are troubling.

Michelle Kane (02:32):

All right. We'll do the bad news first. Hit me with the first point.

Karen Swim, APR (02:37):

So the bad news is these studies show that there is less trust in CEOs as credible sources.

Michelle Kane (02:50):

Yeah, that one stood out for me as well.

Karen Swim, APR (02:53):

And aligned with that, this makes sense that one of the biggest challenges for that, journalists said, that they've experienced in the last 12 months, and this is from I think the Cision study, is that their challenge is maintaining credibility as a trusted news source. So you have them battling against misinformation, this label of fake news, combating those accusations and maintaining credibility and then not trusting that we are helping with that at all. So concerning,

Michelle Kane (03:37):

And I could totally see why. I mean, there are the nefarious sorts out there who are all too happy to use credible news organizations to spread their misinformation and disinformation. And that's not to say that journalists don't fact check. Of course they do. But yeah, it's a really tenuous spot, which puts us the PR pros in a really difficult situation because,

Karen Swim, APR (04:04):

And I hate to say this because I know that the majority of our audience, there are some that are coming up in the profession and emerging. The majority of our audience knows this, but I think it's always good to remind ourselves too, because in the heat of the moment when we deal with a lot of things that journalists do not realize, there is pressure from clients, there are the demands that they don't see. There are the requests that we push back on. There are things that we educate about, but I think that it is critical today to educate our clients thoroughly about the role that the media actually does play. The media is not part of your marketing team, and unfortunately, if you don't have something that can advance a story forward, that adds value, that presents something that the reporters' readers will be interested in hearing, you're going to have a harder time getting coverage in credible publications. So to be credible, don't see this as an opportunity to push forward the name of your company.

I understand the struggle is real and I have beautiful clients, wonderful clients as we all do, but we all know that sometimes it's really hard for companies to get out of their own way. You ask them a question and they immediately default to company speak and the company line, and it's hard to say, “No one cares. Talk to me about beyond your company. Talk to me about the issues that others in your industry are facing. Talk to me about the challenges your clients are facing. Give us a point of view of that. Give us some instruction, help us the way forward.” It is hard, but we've got to do the hard work because, and especially in the season, we are now in an election season and we all know the battle for what is that

Michelle Kane (06:25):

Bandwidth.

Karen Swim, APR (06:28):

The battle for the bandwidth of reporters is going to shrink, but also in the season more than ever, we've got to be part of the fight disinformation solution. So we've got to help news organizations to truly be valued again and to be seen as credible. And we can be a part of that by offering up valuable, credible information. It's rough out there,

Michelle Kane (07:00):

But one of the tools or the brighter notions of these surveys, this is from MuckRack, is one way that our clients can help that cause. And rather than just casually think, oh, the media is just here to be my mouthpiece, they said journalists as a whole plan to spend more time on YouTube, LinkedIn, and even TikTok. So as we've often said, every company has the potential to be their own media company by putting out your own information on your own owned channels, while journalists are planning on spending more time there probably to learn more about you, maybe to vet you. So keep that in mind as a means of presenting, supporting evidence or more deeper information as they consider whether to cover your story.

Karen Swim, APR (07:59):

Yeah, I mean the MuckRack survey, I love this because I feel like journalists, they can sometimes not be fair to us in the way that they view us, but they also get us, I consider them part of our people. And this was really cool. When asked about their optimism about their profession, 58% said that yes, they were optimistic about the journalism profession. That's more than half, so that's good. 42% were not, but that's okay. Things will improve and understand that they're impacted by the same things that are impacting everyone else. They're seeing shrinking ad revenues, which means shrinking resources for them, more pressure with less resources, less job certainty. Many are switching jobs, many are trying to find other ways that they can make a living at doing the thing that they love doing. So it's rough out there.

Michelle Kane (09:05):

It really is. It really is. The more that the digital and print advertising landscape changes, the harder it is for all of us as a result. Really, even those of us in the communications field, those of us who do that kind of work with media buying, you're like, okay, I might be making this decision away from a print piece, but that means I am creating my own trouble.

Karen Swim, APR (09:29):

And I know, just to give you guys some positive ways that you can sort of combat this, clients are going to be clients. Make sure that you are setting a tone consistently, because unfortunately you say things in the beginning and it flies out of people's heads. So you have to consistently set a tone that public relations is not confined to media relations. And so we also have to look for more robust ways to tell stories to connect with our audiences. We have to be innovators and not just rule followers. We should be creating new paths forward when it makes sense to work with the media, help them by having publishable content that is a game changer. When you have good meaty publishable content, don't limit the things that you pitch to just your client's point of view. Reach into their client base, reach out to adjacent experts and enrich a story with credible sources.

If you have a healthcare client and you're talking about an issue, grab a medical expert and get a publishable quote from that expert to really provide more meat to that journalist and to help them not to have to hunt down other sources. Again, it's all about credibility and quality information that's going to speak volumes. Do provide them with rich sources from your own experts. So rather than just provide a quote, I interview all of our internal experts, and I have always, for years, used Otter AI to record and transcribe those calls, provide a transcript of the questions that you ask the experts so that because the journalists may find other nuggets within there, don't be afraid to give them, feed them a lot of things that can really help them to do their jobs. And again, in this season, it's about being creative. Maybe you add in an audiogram in addition to the things that you're sending. We love audiograms as podcast.

Michelle Kane (11:49):

We do. It all comes down to what are you trying to do as what are your clients trying to do? Right? They're trying to present themselves as the solution to their target audience's problems. So rather than just blasting, here's our new thing, okay, well why does that matter? What pain points is that going to resolve? And this is true for PR and marketing. How are you going to enrich or better someone's existence, whether that's making their business more money, making their lives easier, solving a major issue in society, how are you contributing? And like Karen, like you just said, adding all those different layers, plus that helps the journalist. I mean, having something that well-formed in story form. If I'm a journalist and I'm just presented with a few pitch points, okay, now you do it, or something that's crafted and really nearly ready to go in today's landscape, which are you going to be more inclined to go for?

Karen Swim, APR (12:53):

I completely agree. And don't be afraid to help on things that have nothing to do with you.

You can help a journalist out and say, Hey, I saw that you were working on a story. I know somebody that can be of help. And it doesn't have to be a client. Jump in to help on things. Check in with the journalists that you work with often and ask what are they working on? Can you be of help? Can you be of assistance? And most importantly, let's all just always be respectful that we're all under the same pressures. Life is weird for every single one of us. Journalists are human beings who are also going through the same challenges as the rest of the world. So be kind and make the most of their time. Their inboxes are overflowing too. As someone who gets pitched a lot, I have a heightened sensitivity how annoying it is to just have your inbox clogged up by things because people had an agenda that had nothing to do with you. It's annoying and having it hit you in your email, in your social media inboxes and having to go to all these places and read through a bunch of garbage can really make you not a nice person. It's funny because Kami and Misa did a newsletter this week and she talked about showing up in people's DMs and how she, who someone did that to her on LinkedIn, and she is the sweetest, but I was laughing. I completely get it. You want to just go off on people and say, “Did you even bother to read past sentence one?”

Michelle Kane (14:43):

You're just

Karen Swim, APR (14:44):

Throwing up here like, Hey, let me sell you this. I don't want that.

Michelle Kane (14:48):

No. And the worst is when you go on trust. I think this happened moreso on Twitter back in the day. Alright, right, I'll follow you. And you'd immediately get the DM, go buy my thing. I'm like, alright, goodbye - block.

Karen Swim, APR (15:03):

Yeah, it's so again, be respectful, be kind, be judicious. And we really do have to be more thoughtful, more intentional in crafting those strategies for clients and make sure that they understand that PR does not solve every problem in the world. Make sure that you're attacking and setting expectations appropriately about what you can do and what you can't do.

Michelle Kane (15:37):

Yeah. Very true. And I have to give a little demographic shout out to Generation X actually got mentioned in the MuckRack executive summary that journalists are looking are targeting both millennials and Gen X. They're their most commonly reported target audiences. I know it's sad, but it's just nice to be remembered. Everyone seems to between you at the Silent Generation and Gen X. It's like, “Hi, we're right here.”

Karen Swim, APR (16:09):

Yeah. I don't even know what to say. It is nice to be remembered because people really seem to forget that we exist. And the really sad part is people have misconceptions and they target generations, which I think can maybe be a mistake because characteristics that are not confined to generations,

Michelle Kane (16:35):

I'll never forget it was a conference or something and one of the keynote prisoners was, I guess the Millennial Mom was the target persona of the season and all the things they were ticking off that she wants. And I just said to my friend, I said, well, Gen X wants that too. We just don't talk about it all the time. We're over here in the corner with our Billy Idol scowl just getting it done.

Karen Swim, APR (17:02):

That's something that maybe communication professionals can help open the eyes and eliminate the way that sometimes you're targeting people that are tech savvy. That's not limited to an age group.

Michelle Kane (17:16):

Goodness no. No, it's not.

Karen Swim, APR (17:19):

There are people that share those characteristics and I don't know, we seasoned solos maybe can show them what's up because we're out here showing out and living our very best professional lives and the kids cannot keep up.

Michelle Kane (17:39):

Right. Well, you know what? Right there, I mean, there's a hook. Why are personas always attached to age and station in life?

Karen Swim, APR (17:50):

We need to change that. Life is changing.

Michelle Kane (17:53):

Yeah, exactly. Just because I tick a certain bunch of numbers on your form doesn't mean that my experience matches everyone within that space.

Karen Swim, APR (18:07):

Love it, love it. Love that thought. Love it.

Michelle Kane (18:11):

I need a nap now. That was a lot.

Well, we hope that this has been a valuable time for you. It's always good to check in just to see what the landscape is out there with our friends on the journalism side, and always to be considerate of how we do our jobs in the way that we help our clients, but also that we help this ecosystem of journalism that we of course depend on to help us all thrive.

So if you did find this valuable, we would love for you to share this around. Please share our podcast. We would just really appreciate it. We would make sure that somehow chocolate magically appears in your lives and all good things. And hit us up at solopro.com. Sign up for the newsletter there. Check us out, leave questions, comments, and until next time, thank you for listening to That Solo Life.