Category Archives: Journalism

Mentorship from Marta

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Before listening to Marta, I understood the importance of Public Relations, whether it be in terms of a business or as specific as someone’s personal brand. Public relations is a constantly misunderstood expression due to its presence in media, TV shows, general conversation etc. Public relations helps establish and maintain mutual relationships between an organization and its publics. The process of implementing a successful PR strategies can relates to organizations, charities, fundraisers, authors, actors, athletes and many more groups that depend on the public opinion and their standing in the public for its success and growth. It does more than just emphasize one’s relationship to the public and react to problems. PR involves the management of issues, keeping management informed on public opinion, emphasizes the responsibility of management, serves as an early warning system, and uses research and ethical communication as its primary tools

Check out the link below for some of the most creative PR campaigns!

Creative PR Campaigns

However, as a result of the conversation with Marta, it became evident that people can misinterpret the role that PR plays in society. I took it upon myself to interview three people to get a better idea of how PR is viewed by people not working in or pursuing a career in public relations.

When speaking to the individuals that I interviewed, all three expressed their interpretation of PR as being the process in which a famous person or well-renowned organization handles challenges within the workforce or in society and turns them in to good publicity. Sabrina, in particular, expressed that she believed PR is about building a reputation. While this is not far off the radar, public relations is more than building a reputation, it’s about developing and maintaining that reputation on a public front, ensuring that whoever the identified group or individual is, they are practicing a positive relationship with an array of publics- whether that be on a political, social, economic or personal front.

Two of the three participants believed that PR relates to marketing and advertising. While this is true in some aspects, it is evident that PR relates more to a person or organizations while marketing refers to a product. Marketing and advertising try to sell a product and generate a profit whereas PR is a cost reduction process that communicates with many stakeholders. Public relations takes place in owned media and ensures free publicity for the given party.

All three participants had similar answers in terms of what skills are needed to be successful in the industry. Some of the terms included: organized, adaptable, innovative, quick, up to date, informed and dedicated. Media and society is constantly changing. Rumors arise, news is broken and opinions come and go. These words target the individual that has to deal with each of these changing factors in a way that supports and highlights the positive aspects of the client.

Amy, the oldest participant, said that she learned about public relations through conversations at the dinner table and watching the nightly news. Conversations regarding bad and good publicity, PR disasters etc. lead her to believe that public relations primarily focusses on how people or groups deal with catastrophe regarding their reputation, recent news and many more factors.

Both Sabria and Jada- young participants- said that they primarily learned about public relations via social media, movies, myths, television and things along those lines. This being said, neither participant seemed to understand the magnitude of the business because they thought it primarily focused on event planning and things of the surface level nature.

On another note, I decided to show you my favorite PR campaign, a tactic that I think was both creative, risky and ultimately- impressive.

Dining in Dublin

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This past weekend, I went to Dublin, Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. The parade was extensive, the outfits were jaw dropping and the environment was electric. However, besides that, I picked up on a few things that relate back to the idea of marketing on social media. Before going to Dublin, people kept telling me that the food was quite miserable and that we should rely on Papa Johns and KFC to get us through the weekend. Once I landed, my phone picked up on the fact that my location had changed and all of a sudden my Instagram was bombarded with recommendations on where to eat food in the area. I ended up going to Fire which was recommended to me via an advertisement on my feed and it was one of the best meal I have had in months.

While that story seems minute and relatively uninteresting, how I got to the restaurant, Fire, touches upon how our society is changing. According to Paul Beelen, mobile devices are the way of the future in terms of accessibility, mobility and advertising. Mobile marketing will allow people to instantly gain access to a plethora of information regarding the restaurants, stores etc. that they are interested in.

I know very few people that don’t utilize social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This being said, people are constantly scrolling through the apps looking for new photos to look at, articles to read or memes to laugh at. It is no secret that implementing a mobile marketing strategy is the easiest way to reach an audience considering the audience is already utilizing the desired advertising platform in their day to day lives.

While ads on Instagram are such a small portion of the potential of mobile marketing, it has proven to work for me just within the last week. Mobile marketing includes but isn’t limited to: sending text messages, viral incentivizing, masked marketing, rumor marketing, social data bases, invitations etc. Mobile marketing has proven itself to be useful and relevant- a tactic that shows no signs of disappearing.

Mojo in Barcelona

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There was a time when people understood broadcasting to entail a large group of producers, camera men, an onscreen journalist and many other factors. With the development of technology, all of this can be done with a tripod, a phone and a voice.

Like with most things, there are innate pros and cons of mobile journalism. The pros include freedom, easy to travel with, accelerated quality, reality, quick and most desirable to most companies- cheap. In many ways, mobile journalism has proven to be the way of the future. There is no longer a requirement to send a team of four down to the scene. This has opened the door for so many people to become journalists with just a phone in hand.

However, there are some downsides to mobile journalism. The three main cons of mobile journalism are as follows: stability, lighting and audio. The big question to be answered is can journalists manage the cons? The answer is always yes. The pros definitely out weigh the cons and that is important to remember. The cons can be managed by utilizing a tripod, connecting a microphone and attaching a light to the phone.

It is evident that many organizations believe in mobile journalism and its future, making it evident in many ways that giving a true sense of reality to viewers in a cheap fashion is more important than have to manage poor audio.

Although I did not have a tripod, light or microphone handy- I decided to test the waters with mobile journalism. Using an app called Quick, I was able to produce a short clip of what a day is like at CEA. Check it out below.

 

Visiting with Valentí

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Valentí San Juan proved that everything does in fact happen for a reason.

When he first said “anyone can be a journalist”, I found myself quite skeptical. To me, a journalist is someone who acts as the middle man between society and the news, making sure people are well informed of daily scenarios as well as breaking news stories. I guess I had a closed minded perception that a journalist had to work for a renowned agency or had some sort of official employment. However, after hearing Valentí’s story, I have come to realize that journalism is simply a matter of telling stories.

After being fired from his job and facing many other personal struggles, Valentí felt as though his world was crumbling down. There is a good life lesson to be learned from his lifestyle since then. After facing controversy, there are two options. One, admit defeat. Two, move on.

Check out Valentí’s Instagram for more about his life.

Instagram

Valentí chose to dedicate his life to fitness and telling stories around the world at different Ironman’s, Ultraman’s etc. He may have a crazy lifestyle, but he has a purpose in doing so.

Now, I have a different perspective of journalism. Journalists need to tell their story and tell the story of others.

The video below was what solidified my belief in Valentí’s passion. It made me realize that you don’t have to be the face of Fox News or a writer for the New York Times to tell a story. You can be anywhere in the world with just a camera and a passion.