Southern Cross University: MNG81001 Media Relations Management Report

This report, prepared for MNG81001 at Southern Cross University, analyzes media relations within the context of corporate communication. It delves into the crucial aspects of managing client expectations, emphasizing the importance of clear communication and realistic outcomes in media outreach. The report also addresses the challenges of working with potentially unethical reporters and the ethical codes that journalists must adhere to, highlighting the potential damage to brand image and workflow caused by misrepresentation or breaches of ethical conduct. The author concludes that effective media relations are vital for organizational communication and maintaining a positive public image, offering practical insights and recommendations for effective management strategies. This report is contributed by a student and available on Desklib, a platform offering AI-powered study tools.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
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Abstract
Media relations can be described as the beneficial relationship that exists between the public
relationship officers and the journalists. For the journalists, there is a bigger benefit and it arises
from the direct and easy access of the sources and stories. The advantage of the news coverage in
comparison to the advertising are as follows: the cost of coverage in the news media is
significantly lower in comparison to the cost of advertising; there is an added bit of advantage of
the coverage in the news is much better than in comparison to the paid advertising and the it will
include endorsement of the quoted person and journalist. A public relations team has a
significant amount of responsibility of preparation of press materials, other forms of content and
kits. The publications have formed the base of the brand and it must be developed with an aim of
outreaching the media and the journalists. Under the bigger umbrella falls of media relation falls
the public relations and the conversations that as a whole impact the public relations. It can be
highlighted that specifically in the field of journalism there is a strong need of following the
ethical codes so that the profession does not get distorted.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Media relations................................................................................................................................3
Issues 1: Managing Client Expectations......................................................................................3
Issue 2: Working with Unethical Reporters.................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Corporate communication is the way of building a company reputation or a brand so that
it can be shared with the employees, customers, and clients. It is important to mention that
corporate communications team help in shaping the long term benefits, wisdom and goals,
sharing of the success, shaping of the private and public identity of a company. Corporate can
thus be described as the practice of maintaining, cultivating and developing the corporate identity
or a brand image (Kim 2014.). Therefore, corporate communications team sustain the brand
image for a longer period of time, communicate with the external and the internal audiences and
the mould the image of the company. corporate communication includes the processes and
methods that promotes the credentials of the company and also in accepting and positioning its
pitch in the marketplace. The corporate communication includes a series of interconnected,
planned programs and activities so that the external and internal partners, stakeholders,
customers and partners can be communicated (Doorley and Garcia 2015).
Media relations
Public relations professions are entirely based on working with the media relations and
the main aim is to garner the publicity so that it can benefit the clients. it is important to mention
that the mass media is obviously a preferred channel for the of reaching out the general public
because the larger number of the audiences prefer the media coverage as the credible source of
promotional and advertising efforts. Therefore, it is vital to mention that the learning how to
manage and develop relations with the reporters is vital for the outreach strategy (Supa 2014).

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Issues 1: Managing Client Expectations
it is important to mention that the even the best executed and planed efforts put into the
media relations can actually result into very low or not coverage at all. Thus it is necessary to set
the various expectations before and also during the times of outreach. The professionals that are
associated with the media relations must ensure that the client have understands the what will be
the outcome in advance. Therefore, it is a must to ensure that the client is updated regarding the
status band the overall feedback of the status of the client (Petriwskyj, Gibson and Webb 2014).
it is also important to update the client regarding the overall feedback from the media and the
through the campaign process so as to ensure that there exist no surprises. In order to bring the
client to the campaign, the role of the clients must be mentioned. It is important to mention that
the clients must be handled by the Public relations professionals. Similarly, the clients must
know their expected levels of engagement and the roles on the onset of the campaigns. The job is
to have the idea of that media can be used to have the opportunity to convey the information to
the common people. The second most important part is to convey the clients what they are
getting from the company (Doan and Bilowol 2014).
The relationship with the client is very important considering the fact there is and to
manage the relationship as it will lead to damaging the reputation of the organization or the firm
and it is important to mention that the customer relationship is everything for the businesses that
are based on consultancy. Public relations are the part of the media relations and the and it will
include the ways in which the work will be delivered with quality. It is important to mention that
the media relationship professionals are the first line of communication with the media and the
then with the customers (Doorley and Garcia 2015). The public relations professionals require
the same set of skills that brings success to the traditional media and as a whole these

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professionals can cover more percentage of the channel company and when it will be delivered.
it is also an important thing to note that in the public relations campaign the clients must not
enter blindly as it can become dangerous for them. right from the beginning the potential client
must be conveyed about the what they are receiving. Therefore, it is important to mention that
the clients must be aware of the things that are coming and die to this they will be less likely to
distract from the actual work (Place 2015).
Issue 2: Working with Unethical Reporters
Once in a while firms work with the journalists that misinterpret data and intentionally
pout up stores that do not align with the original situation. Whereas, there are situations where
the occurs the egregious errors and ethical reporters offer to correct the misinterpreted data.
However, it is important to mention that ethical reporters will also take attempt of correcting the
misinterpreted information. The trust however is that the journalists have the right to portray the
data and information as they see it, even though the information and quotes are taken out from
the true and original context. It is important to mention that a lot of competition takes place for
the purpose of getting attraction and the more interesting the story is more number of people are
going to read and share the same (Iggers 2018).
The identification of the media relations and the public relations activities can be called
as a common error and this leads to distorting the journalist as it breaches the ethical codes. it is
important to note that a journalist cannot accept benefits for his or her own family for the
purpose of refraining from publishing a material that is related to journalism. It is important to
highlight that the journalist must not be not be acting in a way that will undermine their
professional independence. Therefore, it can be said that a journalist must not engage with the
participating and the soliciting the public relations or advertising. It is important to note that in

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an organization a journalist cannot work as a public relations professional because the it violates
and breaches the ethical codes that are present in both the profession and it can be detrimental for
the journalism as well (Fredriksson and Johansson 2014). Therefore, it can be said that if a
journalist works both for the organizational and public relations then it can become a ethical
violation when both the professions are combined. In real scenario, a significant amount if
benefit can be accrued by the such a person and unethical means of actions and activities can
propagate within the organization. However, if the such an amalgamation of the work is allowed
in both the field then it can lead to an increase in discounting the rule of ethics and conscience as
well. Therefore, it is important to mention that according to some, combining of both the
professionals of journalist and public relations professional does not violate any ethics and it
does not contradict the rules either (Lee, Coleman and Molyneux 2016).
Conclusion
From the above study it can be concluded that media relations can be considered as the
vital part through which the organizations can communicate with the clients or the customers. It
has been found that often organization experience issues when communicating through the
normal channels and modes of communication. The public relations professionals play major
role in shaping the communication and act as bridges that link up both the clients and the
organization. It can be seen that there are people or the journalists that can temper with the
original and misinterpret the data and information for the purpose of creating issues. This can be
called as unethical practices in the journalism that can actually be detrimental for the
organization as well as the clients that are relying on the organization. The unethical form of
journalist can severely damage the brand image and can cripple the normal workflow.

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References
Doan, M.A. and Bilowol, J., 2014. Vietnamese public relations practitioners: Perceptions of an
emerging field. Public Relations Review, 40(3), pp.483-491.
Doorley, J. and Garcia, H.F., 2015. Reputation management: The key to successful public
relations and corporate communication. Routledge.
Doorley, J. and Garcia, H.F., 2015. Reputation management: The key to successful public
relations and corporate communication. Routledge.
Fredriksson, M. and Johansson, B., 2014. The Dynamics of Professional Identity: Why
journalists view journalists working with PR as a threat to journalism. Journalism Practice, 8(5),
pp.585-595.
Iggers, J., 2018. Good news, bad news: Journalism ethics and the public interest. Routledge.
Kim, Y., 2014. Strategic communication of corporate social responsibility (CSR): Effects of
stated motives and corporate reputation on stakeholder responses. Public Relations Review,
40(5), pp.838-840.
Lee, A.M., Coleman, R. and Molyneux, L., 2016. From thinking to doing: Effects of different
social norms on ethical behavior in journalism. Journal of Media Ethics, 31(2), pp.72-85.
Petriwskyj, A., Gibson, A. and Webby, G., 2014. Participation and power in care: Exploring the
“client” in client engagement. Journal of aging studies, 31, pp.119-131.
Place, K.R., 2015. Exploring the role of ethics in public relations program evaluation. Journal of
Public Relations Research, 27(2), pp.118-135.

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Supa, D.W., 2014. The academic inquiry of media relations as both a tactical and strategic
function of public relations. Research Journal of the Institute for Public Relations, 1(1), pp.1-15