Questioning the media ch. 12

Q1:  What do you think of when you hear the term public relations?  What images come to mind?  Where did these impressions come from?

A:  When I hear the term public relations, I think of someone who is in charge of communicating with the public.  I picture a big building, similar to a law office, where business transactions occur.   These come from my previous outlook of PR firms, as I didn't realy have much of an understanding of how they worked.   After working through this chapter, I have learned that there are in fact public relations firms in existence, and that they do business on a very rapid timeline.  They control the world of marketing and publicity, as they must write press releases for various day to day events.  

Q3:  What step can reporters and editors take to monitor PR agents who manipulate the news media?

A:  Reporters and editors can double check if a news story is accurate enough by investigating the field.  In order to do this, they can go out to the site of the story and actually confirm with witnesses if the event took place or not.  If the PR agent has a track record of simulating the truth, he or she may be watched more closely, and their stories may be more doubted.  Reporters and editors can make it a habit of not accepting releases from known offenders, pressuring them to be honest.  They could also check with other firms in order to confirm a story based on various accounts.

Q4:  Can and should the often hostile relationship between the journalism and PR professionals be mended?  Why or why not?

A:  I believe that in order to have a successful reporting of the news, all news forces should act together.  If there is a hostile relationship, then all the news thats needs to be reported may not get reported in a timely and orderly fashion.  In order to maintain compliance, both groups need to do their jobs in an honest fashion that is considerate to the other force.  Journalists need to report the stories as they occur, without bias, and PR professionals need not ask to much for too little, such as over coverage of a small story.  There is no reason for colleagues not to be on good terms in such a demanding field.