MEDIA & Media Relations

M.Deepak

Hence Influence the Influencer

In fact, the title was a typesetters mistake. The title was supposed to have read "The Medium is the Message. When Marshall McLuhan saw the typo he exclaimed, "Leave it alone! It's great, and right on target! Now there are possible four readings for the last word of the title, all of them accurate: "Message" and "Mess Age," "Massage" and "Mass Age."

 Tracks the media exposure and changing

consumer trends in both urban and rural India and of course the estimated readership of publications

Provided lifestyle and psychographic profiling of

readers for the first time

Only nine of the top 25 most read publications

(including dailies and periodicals) registered a growth in readership The combined percentage decline in readership, for the 16 publications that registered a drop, was 51.89% In the elite top 25 club, Marathi daily Pudhari grew the most, at 8.83%, while Saras Salil, a weekly magazine from Delhi Press, dropped the most, at 12.95%

These figures are total readership and all figures are in thousands.
Depending on how their publications fared, media houses typically support t

 This category measures the universe of readers who

reads any publication in a segment So the universe of readers who read any English daily, grew 0.47% to 3.1 crore There are no definitive trends across categories, but weeklies in all languages, except Malayalam, registered a drop

Gainers and Losers: Some of the most read publications also figure in the list that lost the most readers Dainik Jagran, Indias most read publication, for instance, lost some 1.1 million readers Telugu daily Vartha lost the most, 1.3 million readers, or 21% of its readership. Vartha has presumably been cannibalized by Saakshi, the new Telugu daily that was launched by former chief minister Y.S.R. Reddys son Jagan Mohan Reddy.

English dailies: Of the top 24 most read English dailies, only six registered a gain in readership Mint, HT Medias business daily, grew the most, posting a 15.67% growth in readership This, is however, not counting Metro Now, which grew its readership by 103%, but has since been discontinued as a daily by its joint promoters Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd and HT Media Ltd DNA, which grew 11.37%, comes second. The New Indian Express, lost 14.19% of its readers, followed by The Indian Express, which lost 11.37%

English magazines:
Magazines present an alarming picture, with every single magazine in the top 25 registering a drop

Why Is Media So Important?

Interprets Informs Agents of Change

MEDIA Moulds Public Opinion

Entertains

Enable Decision Making

Empowers

 Media is much more stronger and pluralistic in

nature today

Image building can be an arduous task in the

absence of Media

 About how the media functions The principles of effective communication Understand what drives the media Adapt to media requirements Understand their questions, their explanations Understand their perpetual hunger for information
and take advantage

What You Must Know?

 Media has two broad categories

Print - mainline, business dailies, magazines, journals Electronic - News Wires, TV, Radio and online

 The media can be further categorized on the basis

of

Language Frequency Focus industry

The Media Mix

The numbers
Over 46,000 newspapers and periodicals More than 5,000 dailies Nearly 17,000 weeklies and about 6,000
fortnightlies

Nearly 13,000 monthlies and 3,000 quarterlies

Languages
As many as 101 languages and dialects Largest in Hindi 19,000 publications Followed by English 7,000 and
Urdu 3,000

Circulation / Employment
The Dailies 130 million copies Top 350 newspapers employ About 5,000 reporters 2,000 full-time correspondents 5,000 stringers and 5,000 editorial staff

Electronic media in India

Dozens of TV channels in English and in
several regional languages

Radio is gaining popularity in metros Web Digital medium

New age media

Internet Blogs Paid avenues like The Times of Indias Medianet Sponsored appearances on TV shows Radio sponsored appearances on FM channels SMS campaigns, Opinion polls

Media mix
Mainlines

Business Publications
Economic Times Business Standard Hindu Business Line Financial Express Business World Business Today Business India

Times of India Indian Express Telegraph Statesman Hindustan Times

Niche trade publications Newswires PTI, UNI, Reuters, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, CRISIL etc Exp. Hotelier & Caterer Images Travel Talk

Electronic Media Star News, India Business Report, Star Business News, Zee News, etc

Lifestyle Marwar Elle Mansworld

Regional Media

Online media Bartaman, ABP, Indiatimes.com; rediff.com, Kannada Prabha, Punjab Kesari, Agencyfaqs.com etc Malayala Manorama,etc

Editorial hierarchy
Editor in Chief Resident Editor/Deputy Editor

Features Editor (City Editor, Sports Editor, Entertainment Editor, etc)

News Editor Chief Sub Editor

Chief Reporter
Special Correspondents

Correspondents

Sub Editor

Team of Reporters

Editorial hierarchy
MAGAZINES
Editor Deputy / Assistant Editor, COB

Senior Correspondents (Sports, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Economy, etc) Correspondents Freshers

Special Correspondents IT, Biotech, Telecom, FMCG

Lifestyle

Editorial team-functions...
News Editor Is the final authority on what goes into a
days paper will carry Is responsible for the pagination and placement of news Seldom attends events or conferences and is never in the public eye

Editorial team-functions...
Chief Reporter Is to keep tabs on daily work and is in charge
of all reporters

Assistant Editor Is the actual hands-on person who looks

after planning the next days editorial contents to reporting / writing on major issues

Editorial team-functions...
The City Editor Is in charge of the city supplements/ pages The Business Editor As the name implies covers the business,
finance and commercial activities is in charge of business pages / supplements

Editorial team-functions...
Special Correspondent After serving as a reporter for years and
understanding the intricacies of journalism he is promoted as a special correspondent

The Reporters They are the eyes and ears of the editorial
team

Editorial team-functions...

News Editor

Chief Sub Editor Sub Editor

Final authority after Editor-In-Chief

In charge of the news desk, where the final
destination of stories is decided

One who subs or edits the copies.

Monitoring the language and sequencing of copy is his primary job

The broad categories

A publication works beat-wise, that is, all journalists do not follow all faculties of society

Some may follow politics, others may

follow lifestyle and still others may follow financials / business

What Makes News?

The varied definitions

It is indicative of a trend Anything you did not know yesterday News is any event, idea or opinion which is
timely, which affects a large number of people in a community News is a compilation of facts and events of current interest - important to readers It is anything and everything interesting about life in all its manifestations

The varied definitions

Conflict Scandal, controversy, struggle, wars, debates Timeliness Todays news, deadlines, seasonal, something coming up on the calendar Progress Scientific advances, labour negotiations, new legislations Milestones One year later, one decade later, one decade from now Consequence Court decisions, cause & effect, fall from grace Make it local Local impact on national breaking story, the local angle

The varied definitions

Fresh angle Special events Twist to an old story Conferences, rallies, ugliest dog show gatherings Novelty The water skiing squirrel, worlds largest, smallest, dumbest

Human interest Children, human tricks, women

People Peoplenot issues Through their eyes

Trends New opinions, behaviour, patterns, attitudes

Scandals & Romance Scandals, forbidden love, Romance

Mergers Visits Acquisition, takeovers Head honchos of international firms

NEWS for typical client

Spokespeople Profiling Guest Columns Events Technology Workshop New Products introduced New Contracts Business-Related Services Partnerships / Alliances Testimonials / CSR

NEWS

Reports Turnover Results Research, Others

NEWS for the newsman!

Scoop! Figures!!! Exclusives! Industry Trends! Whats new?

The determining factors

TIMELINESS: Time is an important factor to
determine what makes news. News must be given on time. Stale information has no value

Journalists are eager for a scoop Nothing else

matters, but News!

After all said n done Its a Newspaper or

Newschannel !!

The determining factors

PROXIMITY: Proximity can be both spatial as
well as emotional. The reader is more interested in a minor event close by, than an important event thousands of miles away SIZE: It is not only the substantial that draws attention. Sometimes minor events make news SPOT NEWS: Live, recent, immediate and fresh

The determining factors When you approach media with any

information be prepared to answer two questions

Why should I take this story? Why should I carry it now?

Its all about timeliness and relevance Key to any communication with the media

Timeliness Dissemination of news should be in

tandem with the overall PR strategy Timing of a news should be in accordance with the overall PR strategy Deadline knowledge of publications News is news till its new Choice of PR tool should be well thought out

Relevance
Client Communication objective Target audience Desired impact Media Publication Readership profile Space Structure of the story Writer/ journalists style

Why do you need to know all this??

Why? Media is the most effective and powerful

channel / vehicle for reaching to the relevant publics In fact, PR is also often referred to as Press Relations Media is an integral part of any PR program and Media relations is considered as one of the most important aspects of the profession of PR Remember BNB?

Exposure
A typical PR program would expose you to the
media on three occasions

In case of a query Reactive PR Planned dissemination of information

Routine PR Spotting opportunity to put across clients point of view Proactive PR
And others would be

When do you need the Media?

Sometimes a senior member of the organisation is visiting the country Sometimes you are sitting on a story of genuine interest to the community Sometimes your point of view of may influence local or national opinion In all these cases, a knowledge of how to maneuver the Media to your advantage

to position yourself as a player or participate in issues that matter to you The News Media is unique in its ability to shape public perception of your organisation

How do you function in the case of an

Unexpected call from the journalist Planned one-on-ones with the Media Group Media Interface

Unexpected call from the Journalist

Involve the PR Agency
The spokesperson/representative should request the journalist to fax

the questions in writing The questionnaire should be forwarded to the PR Agency for consultation Agency to draft recommended responses and forward to Companys spokesperson for advice The questions answered by the spokesperson should be sent to the journalist If the questions posed are negative, it would be best to get hold of the questions and buy time The representative/ PR Agency to send a written note to the journalist saying that as per the Company policy, the questions posed cannot be answered

Planned Media One-on-Ones

Involve the PR Agency
Route all One on One interaction with the media through your PR

agency
Request them to brief you on the objective, agenda of the meeting

and a background of the journalist and the publication

Being prepared is the key. Always consult the FAQs before a planned

media interaction
Use visual aids and keep supporting documents ready for sharing

with the journalist if required

Rephrasing the question is one way to control the interview

Replace the negative question with a positive answer without repeating the negative comment

Group Interface
Press Conference/ Press Meets/ Seminars
Prepare the presentation keeping the media in mind Spokespersons to answer all questions keeping key messaging and

guidelines shared earlier

Extra care should be taken while mingling with the media during F&B

sessions
There is no such thing as off the record information during the

informal gathering over lunch/dinner

OOPS.- Never ask a journalist not to print a piece of

information that has been shared or disclosed by default

24*7 - Always be prompt in providing any additional

information

Media Basics
TIME: is an important factor in what makes news PROXIMITY: News specific to Delhi is more relevant to Delhi SIZE: Sometimes minor events make important news SPOT: Live, recent, immediate and fresh

Media are seldom going to let information you provide go unchallengedBe

prepared to back up your claims

Media biases existUse them to your advantage or thoroughly prepare to

combat them and still achieve your goals

Journalists are always facing deadlines Often they are working on

several stories simultaneously and are under a great deal of pressure. Be aware of their responsibilities to their editors and their readerships and it can work in your favour

Media Basics
Decision making powers often resides with News Editors or Assignment

Editors, not reporters So give reporters a story they can Sell to their Editor
Dont lie during an InterviewThe reporters will find out and your

credibility will evaporate forever

Give credit to the junior reporter Do not always insist on meeting the Senior
Correspondent or Editor and avoid meeting the Junior correspondent.

Respect the Journalist for his profession and not for his designation!
Everything is on the RecordAlways
Never turn your back to the media, always provide them with correct and

sufficient information
News interviews can be short and sweet, an unqualified success or an unmitigated

disaster. The key is to prepare and understand what the media wants from you

Media Basics
Intimate Always: A change in timing of an interview needs to be informed

to the journalist well in advance

Share Corporate Memorabilia: Gifts or tokens to the media should be

avoided as far as possible

Thank You: Always send a Thank You note to reporters or journalists post

any interaction
TV Interview:
Dress Code should be ideally Blazers ( In dark colours) Non-reflective background Ensure Background branding Face the interviewer and not the camera Short and Simple sentences Avoid too many pauses

Exposure A Press Meet to announce Launch of a

new range or plan announcements Press briefings or one-on-ones Seminars Events by partners where media attends Media Rounds

Quick steps Pleasantries Exchange business cards No b.card!! No problem chat Check designation (Business / Feature /
General) Any doubtscheck with seniors

Summary Media relations is the most important

aspect of our profession Media is a double edged sword Besides having a good relationship with the media, its also important to have a good story to tell There are various ways of reaching to the media - No substitute to personal contact!

Thank-You!!