"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses”Malcom X Media relation is one the most important part within any corporate communication in the era of 21st century. With the rapid development in technologies such as internet facilities and television, concept and focus on media relation has become more and more serious because of the way the information’s are transferred from one party to another within a very short span of time. With the current situation of overseas business, and globalization, it is very crucial for the company to maintain a healthy and a good relationship with the media. With this they have an advantage because if situation worsens and they have a crisis, things can be handled pretty easily and smoothly without much damage to their image and reputation. In today’s context, consumer generated news, reporters, editors, various social networking events; communication blogs etc plays the most important role in media relations. The most important thing to be kept in mind is that media is not at all interested about fact and positive information’s about a company. Instead, they are more concerned about the negative parts and the bad things that the company usually does.
Current Example in the Business world
We are all aware with the recent crisis that Toyota is going through. In this context, Japanese media has criticized Toyota’s president for giving a delayed and an unclear explanation for the massive recall in the history of any automaker that has hampered its image along with the Japanese corporate reputation. So we can see how much a media can be responsible for shaping the information that the readers get access to. The following web site will provide more information on this.
http://www.industryweek.com/articles/japans_media_lashes_out_at_toyotas_slow_response_21023.aspx
Personal Experience
My dad used to own a plastic pipe factory in Nepal which manufactured PVC pipes, polythene pipes etc. One day during the regular operation hour, a worker stuck his hand on the machine and broke his upper limb. As per the regulation of the company, he was given all the medical benefits along with a paid holiday for 2 months. But the media twisted the story stating that the injured worker had to pay all his medical bills and no supports or benefits were provided by the company. Later, on the press release the worker confirmed that the critics were misleading and there were no such issues.
The power media possesses is beyond expectations. As such dealing with the media is indeed a tough task and is a challenge because we have no control over the news and information’s. The following video shows the strategies for developing a good media relation.
I agree with you and really enjoyed your article. You are right, in modern world the communication department is an improtant public relation part for businesses. By crafting messages with care and using media is the most powerful entity. That's why more and more corporations and organizations take the media issue seriously and carefully. Public proper media channels, businesses can ensure that their voices are heard.
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't have said it better. I agree with everything you said and I also enjoyed the video. It truly is scary to see how much the media can almost "brainwash" people. I believe that the media has way to much power at times, and probably would be responsible for getting certain people elected. That is why it is important that they people watching the news, etc. realize that they may not be getting the full story. They need to understand that most likely they are not even getting the correct information at all. People need to be able to think on their own and if they truly want to know about something, they need to research it further and not just rely on what the media says.
ReplyDeleteI found your article very interesting and true! Do you have any idea why the media was saying something so negative about the company your father was working for? Did they have any troubles in their relationship?
ReplyDeleteIt is sad to see that the majority of people believe what media say without trying to double check if the information is correct or not...Normally we should expect them to have a certain professional ethic but apparently it is not true anymore...
What you said about media's concerns on negative angle of issues is right. Whenever they get any negative information, they try to make advantage of their chance to talk again and again about the issues. Moreover, because there are so many channels of information,the information can be easily distorted and corporations with problems will have to suffer. Even when they can prove the information is not true, the influence of negative information from media is still a pain for them.
ReplyDeletei agree with your point about how media can shape a company's image. indeed, if a company manage a good relationship with media, its easier for the company to get away with it when facing controversial problems. this is something that we need to be aware of; don't judge an issue and jump into a conclusion by media reports without thinking twice. especially in the 21th century, people can get sources everywhere easily, such as internet, TV, newspapers, etc. nobody can be sure whether the sources are authentic or not.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see how a companies image can be determined by the media. If companies are able to develop a good relationship with the media then they are in good shape. It is essential for people to not just believe that they media says about a company but rather research for their self. Alot of times the only news or media and sell is the bad news. Not very often does a company get a nice write up from the media for doing something good or right. The media is famous for getting the "dirt on compaines.
ReplyDeleteKayla