Media Relations

Mass Media – One of the most powerful constituencies that companies must address to. A constituency which can speak for and also against the company to such effects that can influence every other constituency of the company in the way it wants to. Hence, to deal with such a powerful constituency, companies have a separate division in the Corporate Communications department.

Not to long ago, business was not prime source of news and articles for the media. It was an area which was largely ignored. But people’s attitudes have changed today. They understand that business means money, so they are very much interested in knowing what is going on in the world of business everyday. This has brought about a change in the media’s approach to business. Today media cover every angle of business and almost all major companies are being constantly watched by the media. Newspapers have a separate section for business related news, business magazines are selling as quickly as any other magazine, news channels have prime time slots allotted to business related news and blogs are being written daily about various business issues. People from all constituencies such as the public, investors, share holders, employees and government rely on media for information about business. With Media being such an important part of business companies cannot ignore the media. One task of the Media Relations division or the Public Relations division in some cases is to maintain friendly ties with all Media groups and Media personnel. They are in charge of updating the Media about the happenings in the company via press releases, e-mail, and personal interviews. They must also respond to the media calls. It is not only that media are called and given information about the company in press releases; sometimes even the media groups call the company’s media relation’s division when in need of information or personal interviews. When the media relations division does receive such a call, it is important that they respond to it personally and not let it be answered by an operator or the answering machine. Sometimes media may lose interest in such companies and the company loses an opportunity to communicate with the media as well as the public.

Since companies are using the media as channel of communication, they must always think about involving a media relations personnel in the decision making process. This gives the media relations department or the person who is facing the media all information of the discussion. He or she will not have any difficulties later while facing the media. Although it maybe a good idea to use consultants and public relations firms to help the communications department, it is even better idea to use them as sparingly as possible and develop In-House capabilities to deal with the media especially in the long run.
Companies must also give importance to online media. The development of technology means that people seeking information need not wait for the news hour, or the newspaper to get the news. They can simply go online and search, and find all the information they need. Individuals can simply post anything over the net, either positive or negative. Companies must therefore develop strategies to deal with the “Online Media”. The media relations department can delegate a person or a group of people with job of handling the online media.
Companies must also use the media to their advantage when handling negative news about the company or in a crisis situation. In both the above cases, the media can have a huge effect either positive or negative on the company depending on how the situation and the media are handled.

Media Relations helps a company in various stage of product development and sales:

Knowledge stage: Awareness of new information is the first step toward new behavior. News and feature stories can make people aware of the benefits of the product.
Persuasion stage: Frequent news coverage helps companies to persuade the customers to buy the product
Decision stage: News coverage helps people make informed choices about using the product based on expert opinion and others' experiences.
Action stage: News and feature stories can inform people about how to take action, such as how to use the product, where and when to go for services, and how much they cost.
Confirmation and advocacy stage: Coverage in the news media can reinforce individual decisions to buy the product and can serve as a forum for members of the public and opinion leaders to endorse the product and offer testimonials from personal experience.
(Above information from: http://www.infoforhealth.org/pr/J42/j42chap1_2.shtml)

Company Example

Infosys is a MNC operating in different locations of the globe. Hence Media is an important channel for communication for the company’s management. The company uses the media to publish their quarterly reports, report new developments, entry into new markets and other important events. The media relations section also gives links to view the various releases and also philanthropic activities with the IIT-B. Please visit

http://www.infosys.com/media/default.asp


Companies today are continuously being scrutinized by the Media. Today negative news about a company or even rumor attracts more attention than a positive action of the company. Media hence are also on the look out for flaws committed by companies. To deal with such intense media glare, companies must give importance to the media relations department and not just hire an outside firm or the company lawyer or executives from other departments or even an ex-reporter to handle the job of media communications. Even though all people mentioned above are qualified and experienced people, they are not people trained to communicate with the media. Anyone can do the talking, but not everyone can communicate and respond.

My Experience

TATA Steel of India recently bought Corus, a British Steel Firm. The takeover however was not easy with a third Steel Firm CSN from Brazil showing interest to buy Corus. A deal that was supposed to be completed in a month took almost four months before TATA ultimately emerged the winner in an auction. The entire takeover period created doubts and in some cases confusions in the minds of the shareholders and the public. But the Media Relations Department of the TATA group constantly communicated with all the constituencies using the Media to give out details of the takeover. Every development that took place during this period was constantly made known to all by the Media Relations Department. The pricing of each share, the final takeover bid and all others details were constantly updated. The constant information that the public received through the media created a lot of interest in the takeover drama.
The TATA group used the media to keep all of the constituencies informed about the proceedings of the takeover. The TATA group used the media in such a fashion that hardly raised any questions from the various constituencies including the shareholder group. All the doubts and confusions were immediately cleared due to the constant flow of information from the media.