User:Zblewski/sandbox

Media relations is a discipline within the greater field of public relations. The goal of this practice is to build trust between an organization or firm and journalists by providing timely and accurate information. Media relations includes several other tasks, including providing the media with stories on behalf of the public relations practitioner, conducting interviews, and some crisis planning.

Media relations is considered by some experts as one of the most difficult and important aspects of the public relations industry. In recent years, social media has taken a more prominent role in public relations work, with use of social media for PR rising by steadily as of 2010, and an increased percentage of PR workers employed in firms are devoted to social media rather than media relations.

Public relations and the media
Media relations has had a strong focus on traditional media outlets, such as print, radio, and television. Relationships between journalists and public relations professionals vary, from a rewarding experience which can benefit both parties, while on the other hand, some relationships between the two sides can be antagonistic and counter-productive. This relationship is dictated by certain elements such as ethical matters, timeliness, and the frequency which contact is made.

There is a highly competitive nature to media relations due to space to tover stories, and so many media relations projects do not get prime coverage as anticipated, rather, these stories are included as filler in the media. The content of a press release is crucial due to the way that the media must synthesize that information; objectivity in the media means that the tone and intended effect of the public relations professional's information may not always reflect in the final result of the published story, though the factual information should remain the same.

Purpose and scope of media relations
There are a set of benefits to utilising media relations as opposed to paid advertising. By working with the media on the details of a story, a greater amount of awareness is available to the public on the given topic, and increases the possible reach of a story to a given audience. There are a variety of mediums that media relations can be conducted, including (but not limited to) media conferences or briefings, editorials, case studies, interviews, media tours, surveys, and most importantly, the press release, all of which act as a medium for the intended message to reach the target audience, by way of the media. Media relations is the only form of public relations work where the message is filtered through the lens of the media.