Debugging the PR-media relationship

This Thursday, 26 April, at 5.30pm, www.CapeTownMagazine.com MD Marcus Zandhuis speaking on behalf of the online media and Mango OMC managing director Nicole Capper speaking on behalf of the PR industry, thrash out what bugs the one about the other.

On Thursday, 3 May editor and media trainer Raymond Joseph shares tips on how to stop your media release from getting spiked while New Age editor Ryland Fisher speaks about best practice when it comes to dealing with the media, on Friday, 11 May at 9am.

Now in its 10th year, PR-Net has been quietly supporting the public relations industry with regular meeting. Antagonism between the PR industry and the media is, I believe, much less widespread than the vitriol suggested on media & marketing pages, and is evidenced by a long roster of editors who frequently and happily share their experiences with PR-Net, and the industry. Of course, there is no shortage of slip-shod work - neither in the PR industry nor in the media. However, the hunger to learn and improve is palpable and the vast majority of PR companies support their staff with on-going education. Getting 40 or more PR professionals to frequently attend, and pay, for after-work meetings does not happen when there is a lack of care.

While the standard of media has slipped dramatically in the last 20 years, and media today is more dumbed-down than I think it ever has been, standards in PR practice have evolved from the once accepted caricature of the busty lass, in a short skirt with a glass of Champs, to a class of professional communicators who take our role as seriously as King Report lll corporate governance demands.

It is wrong to think that a few hacks from both our industries represent the truth. Neither we, nor you can do our jobs well without the other.