The pressure for journalists to churn out articles at a high rate has been exacerbated by the ever-increasing expansion of online journalism. More readers, more time zones to cater for, and more varied audiences all contribute to these strains. The public relations industry recognises this urgent need for a constant stream of stories, and is there to assist. In the US, PRs now outnumber journalists 4.6 to 1. The World PR Report indicated an 11% growth in the sector from 2013 to 2014. These agencies and in-house teams are tasked with the duty to push something into public’s awareness. It is up to journalists to manage this in a way that works for all – the news organisation, the PR people and their audience. However, there can be an argument that PR is compromising journalistic autonomy in some scenarios.
If It Is For a Good Cause, Is it an Issue?
While public relations professionals may attempt to drive the news in certain directions, not all sectors will be as successful at it as others will. When it comes to charities, for example, their ability to dictate the news stands out, for its unique ability to push its own agenda almost without challenge.
Charities such as the British Red Cross have a number of objectives: they want to improve lives, help disaster recovery efforts and generally fill in the gaps caused by capitalist market failures. All of this relies upon their ability to gain the trust of the public enough for them to want to donate to their cause. Henry Makiwa, who acts as the British Red Cross’ Senior Media Relations Officer, described this process for both short-term and longer-term campaigns, citing the recent West African Ebola outbreak and the Haitian earthquake in 2010 as examples of where they have been active.
Charities do good deeds, and help those most in need, so it makes for good news. It fills up column space without effort. News articles describing triumph over adversity are unanimously loved, and as organisations such as the British Red Cross are there on the front line, they are able to use their press teams to capture these unique stories, for the use of news organisations. They have the statistics, images, access to people there. It works in the favour of the newspapers and broadcasters, as it means that they don’t have to use as many resources (money, time, staff, etc.) to cover this news. For the charity, it means that they can show the work that they have done, and how it is benefitting those who have been impacted; building trust in the process.
If it means that less of the legwork is being done by the journalists, it is theoretically easy for the charities to manipulate this influence for their own good. News organisations are taking them at their word, while they may be being given sensationalised stories. Shady charities could even give distorted statistics. If no one else is there to report it, who knows? Without donations from the public, none of what they do is possible, so they need to be able to tap into the emotions of the audience, to get them to support what they do.
Should We Split the News-PR Marriage?
PR is nothing new, and the growth in the sector cannot be tamed, so the only solution is to create content that is thoroughly researched, and is kept as impartial as possible. As long as there is news, there will always be PR there to support it. It would be impractical to sever their public relations connections. They often have knowledge, expertise and the experience to gain stories that the journalists may not, especially when it comes to charities like the British Red Cross. It is ultimately up to news organisations to establish editorial control over their output, do independent research (as suggested by Nick Davies) more often, and to be open about their sources.
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