Information and Persuasion

The dynamic between members of the press and public relations practitioners has definitely evolved over the years. As someone who has worked as both a reporter and in public relations I can attest that interaction between the two has not always been smooth. While my own first-hand interactions have generally been collegial and professional, I have witnessed encounters between professionals from each camp get rather nasty as the two have bumped heads over (1) particular stories reporters were pursuing yet who felt they were beng symied by the public relations office; (2) particular stories the public relations officer wanted the press to cover, yet reporters were resisting as they questioned the story's news value.

In these kind of disputes, the reporter and the pubic relations practitioner both have understandable perspectives. Thjis is probably why their "discussion" can get pretty heated. Thus, the conflict ensues along predictable lines where the two huff and puff. Sometimes the two sides work out a compromise and sometimes not. Over the years, other than on a national level, I have seen less of this kind of conflict. The primary reason for this is that two need each other a lot more in today's world than they used to. There are fewer reporters, for one thing, so they are more inclined to turn to the public relations office for information. On the other side, public relations practioners have channels other than the press through which to commnicate with their publics. Thus, they are not as pressured to achieve media coverage as in years past.

No matter how nicely the two sides play or how much circumstances for each profession changes, there will always be tension or conflict between them. Reporters are in the business of gathering and sharing information. They seek to inform. Public relations practitioners seek to gather information with the intent of using it to persuade. This is no small difference. As the basic agenda of the two is so fundamentally different, this difference will never be totally bridged. Reporters seek to share information in a balanced way. PR practitioners want to take that some information and shape it in way that best suits them. This dance will never change. Nor should it. .