Understanding the media
By Brian D. Spano
Brian Spano Communications, LLC
http://www.brianspano.com

In the world of public relations, there are those who tell the story, and then there are those who relate the story. The two questions here are: How are they different and why?

Well, those who tell the story can be the public relations person themselves. They can be the CEO or president of a company. They can be any designated spokesperson. They can also be the average person off the street. It’s anyone who is on the spotlight side of the pen, camera or microphone. The key is to have the right message and deliver it in the right way.

But let’s look at the other side. Who are those that relate the story to the world, and why is it so important to know and understand them? They aren’t the newsmakers, they are the news reporters, and what they say and how they say it can make or break a person’s, company’s or product’s reputation.

A question that has come up so often in my work is, “What is news?” Although there is no right or wrong answer, I’ve learned that there is a main answer: It’s whatever the news editor says it is. It’s whatever piece of information makes it to print, to air or online.

To first indentify the media, you must have a general understanding of the types of media that are available and how each one works. The three main types of media we will focus on are print (newspapers, magazines, etc.), broadcast (radio, television) and Internet (blogs, Websites, etc.).

Print
Print consists of newspapers, magazines, newsletters, etc. There are other forms of print publications, but we will keep it to the mainstream for our purposes.

Most news stories are written in the inverted pyramid style. Think of an upside-down triangle when you read your next story. Most of the information (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) is near the top, and as you get further down, it becomes filled with less pertinent information. It makes it easier for the editor to edit for content and space. Also, a news story should contain just the facts about what happened with quotes from the parties involved to add color.

Feature stories are more creative and in-depth writing and usually will focus on a person, event or an item. It can bring together people telling stories or giving their opinions about the topic which end up as quotes in the story. A major difference between a feature and news story is that the feature is written in a more narrative format.

Columns or editorial pieces are the writer’s opinion on a topic. That’s it. The author can say pretty much whatever they want about said topic, and these are usually found on the Op-Ed pages of the newspaper.

Tomorrow I'll take a look at the broadcast medium.