Perhaps no other PR niche requires famil-iarity with fresh market research or evolving trends about information dissemination as much as media relations. In this overview of studies and snippets, we give you food for thought about meeting constituent audiences' - especially the media's - needs.
- Proof of the Internet's global influence as an information medium: the IR company Wertheim+Co. reports that 92 percent of 116 publicly held companies in Canada have Web sites. Say hello to more annual reports, news releases, speeches, stock quotes and business profiles making their debut in HTML...(Partners in Communication, 416/594-1600)
- Ketchum says local TV news is the most preferred information source for African Americans. More than 85 percent of 503 African American adults get their news this way, but black-owned magazines (87 percent), black-owned TV news and newspapers (80 percent) and black-owned radio (77 percent) are the most trusted sources. (Ketchum, 404/877-1841)
- Setting the record straight. The Natural Resources Defense Council decided to take the bull by the horns and make sure media reps get its name right. Having been called names such as the Nuclear Reuse Defense Commission, it just embarked on a mass mailing to journalists to clarify its marred name. We recommend this tactic for any misunderstood organization, especially one that has faced 28 years of this abuse. (NRDC, 212/727-4408)
- Among the criteria judged when a client chooses a new agency is media placement, which ranked No. 13 out of 23 in terms of importance, according to the 1998 Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research survey. By the way, quality of work was No. 1. (Thomas Harris, 847/266-1025)
- Electronic media quote happy? The Delahaye Group 1998 Global Press Coverage Benchmark study reveals in an analysis of more than 61,000 articles in trade, business, consumer and online publications, there wasn't one online article that didn't have a quote. (Delahaye, 603/431-0111)
- The 4th Annual Middleburg/Ross Media In Cyberspace study shows that nearly half of 600 queried journalists go online everyday. That was up from nearly 33 percent in 1997. (Middleburg, 212/888-6610)