The rise of Spin - PR and Promotion

Those working in PR are planners of meda events and situations. You facilitate the understanding between an organisation and the public.

PR workers are governed by the Public Relation Institue of Australia - http://www.pria.com.au/.

Publicity - Is one of the best ways to promote events and is a way of gaining advertising space without paying for it. PR allows for manufactured advertising.

PR's objective is generally to sell the companies product rather than tell you about it. It provides information / knowledge. 

The media act as promoters - They use checkbook journalism which is where the media pay for interviews. It's a way to make news through 'exclusive interviews.' Other media than take up the story. 

When did PR begin?

The readings this week talk about the 80s as the time when PR become apart of media. Around the time when investigative journalism started to decline. Major expansion of PR companies since the 80s. 

In 2008 there were 47,800 PR practitioners and just 45,000 journalists in Britain.

The increased use of PR by government departments (Malcom Fraser 22 staff - Paul Keating 299) 

QLD Government spent $32 million in 2008 - Government had 200 ministerial advisers, the opposition just 20. 

Why the increase in spin... It feels the pages. It's cheap, It's easy, It's free advertising, It's 

Technology makes it easy to blur the facts. 

MediaNet

The AAP runs a service that companies pay for to distribute their news or advertising from the PR operators, it's called, "MediaNet." - Some releases from MediaNet are unedited in-text ready format. Video is also able to be distributed via MediaNet. Audio news releases can also be completed. 

What Journalists say about newswires... 

What Journalists have said about the AAP Newswire

"A touchstone for journalists in the gallery (press) to check what's happening." David Speers - Sky News Australia

"Accessing the wire service is a routine part of the daily hunt for stories and a service we regularly draw upon in our presentation of news."
Commercial radio talkback producer

"AAP is vital for our news gathering ability because it gives you raw material to work with." RG Capital Radio news director

"AAP's ability to sum it up quickly and succinctly is the prime reason we use it." Commercial radio talkback producer

The BBC editorial Guidelines... Discusses The Press Association (equivalent of AAP) as a single source... http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/ 


The effects of PR - Stories are cheap, quick, lots of celebrity stories, reduced number of sources.

State of Print Media in Australia - By the Australian Press Council 

The study found that out of 2,400 articles across 14 major papers. 40% of stories were only from one source, 60% quoted two sources or less, 5% of newspaper stories quote PR sources.

60%-90% of stories use PR as a source (Tiffen R.)
PR Practiners generate more than half of the content in newspapers - 64% in the Australian alone!

How is the influence of PR measured??? 


PR companies enlist the expertise of officials or experts. Press releases are traced to see if they are taken up by the media.

PR also manages the media... 


Media management - Restricted the flow of information to the public by replacing key personnel in an organisation with former journalists to create new spins on situations that may arise.

Media Managers are advisers... and get paid heaps. (Public Relations - Spin)

Journalism is about Pro-Conflict - PR is Anti-Conflict.

An example of spin regarding the NSW Health Department and a McDonald's Restaurant in Fairfield, NSW is viewable here.

SpinWatch - Is a website that monitors PR and Spin - Spinwatch.org.