“Hacks and Flacks in Transition”
When I got my first job in public relations in 1981, it was industry standard to get in a car, drive all over town and hand-deliver news releases to the reporters on our media list (guess who got to do it?). Time consuming, yes. But it was important to have that personal, face-to-face interaction between us PR “flacks” and the media “hacks.” We also mailed our releases, and after giving the U.S. Postal Service a few days to deliver them, we’d follow up with a phone call to maintain that personal connection with reporters and chat about our story ideas. In the late 80s and early 90s the fax machine became the new, fast way to deliver our media information. With a touch of a button, swoosh! a fax could be blasted to everyone on our list in a matter of minutes. No more stuffing envelopes or driving around looking for a parking space. Then came e-mail and sending out a news release was instantaneous, although in those early days, many news organizations had somewhat unreliable e-mail programs and our our releases often got sucked into their spam mail. But, this wasn’t so bad because it gave PR folks a good reason to continue making follow up calls (“Hi, I was just calling to see if you received the news release we e-mailed you”) to maintain a personal connection. Even if it wasn’t face-to-face, it was still voice-to-voice.
My point? No matter how technology has changed, it has always been important for PR professionals to figure out the most efficient way to connect with their counterparts in the media and get information into their hands. Today, with newsrooms growing leaner, media migrating online, and news being delivered and received by way of blogs, social networking sites, text messages, and yes, news releases, finding the right connection becomes an art, if not a science.
“Hacks and Flacks in Transition,” is an event being hosted by the Southwest Chapter of the Idaho Press Club to discuss how PR professionals can work better with journalists in this new era of news. As newsrooms shrink and the dynamics of the news industry change, the working relationship between journalists and PR practitioners has a potential for being impacted, either positively or negatively.
The event is open to the public and even people who don’t work in PR or journalism might find it interesting.
Panelists: John Miller, Associated Press; Brad Talbutt, reporter, Idaho Statesman; Rachael Daigle, editor, Boise Weekly; Lisa Chavez, managing editor, KTVB News Group; George Prentice, morning show host, NPR.
Moderator: Marc Johnson, president, Gallatin Public Affairs
When: 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008
Where: Water Cooler, 1401 W. Idaho
Cost: $8.00 Press Club members and students, $12.00 non-members
RSVP to the Idaho Press Club, (208) 389-2879 or idpc [at] mindspring [dot] com