Chapter 7

Chapter 7 in our book was about Media Relations. It talked about the important role that media relations plays in building effective public relationships. I learned that through a single news report people are usually not influenced or their attitude is not changed. But Media is cumulative and if many media covers a subject, over the course of years , expressing their views, then a generation can be influenced. I also learned that the main power of the media is to make us aware of products, services, companies and ideas. Chapter 7 then goes on to talk about working with the Media, and an important thing I learned in this chapter was that even though it can be a challenge it is very important for an organization to create relationships with journalists and the media figures, as with all publics. Because if you can build a trust with your organization and  the reporters then, they are likely to give  you a fair chance, and report on information that you make available to the public, when your on the hot seat. This chapter also talked about the strategy for the new century. In this strategy it uses five points : 1. build relationships face to face. 2. make internal publics top priority 3. Consider an "under-the-raddar"approach to bypass the media. 4. use accountable, focused, measureable programs 5. Expand research. The book used a great example of how people in todays century feel about the media, for example the book said that " people want to be served, not sold; involved, not told." I definitly agree with the chapter 7 on this.