PR Moment - Top tips for strong journalist/PRO relationships

Where would journalists be without PROs?

BBC economics editor Robert Peston, may have labelled them “the enemy” in his recent speech, but there is no question that in today’s media environment, journalists are dependent on PR contacts for a huge amount of content. And this dependency is growing.

In their turn PROs rely upon journalists to disseminate information accurately. So it’s important that they appreciate what journalists need, what their pressures are and how they work in order to become indispensable.

How to be indispensable to journalists

David Alexander, managing director at agency Calacus Public Relations: “I was a journalist for a decade and I found a lot of PROs didn’t know quite how to take advantage of journalists by feeding us information about their clients that could have been beneficial. When I moved into PR, I had strong contacts, but none of them would ever do me a favour or place a story without the merit to justify its publication. They know who I work for and they know they will always get a straight answer. They know that if I contact them I won’t waste their time.”

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