For years, reporters and editors have relied on the analysis and introspection offered in Editor &Publisher, a publication which has gained a reputation for probing an industry built on probing others.
To understand what's influencing today's news gathering process, PR NEWS spoke with Mark Fitzgerald. He is midwest editor of E&P, a position he has held since November 1983. Ironically, Fitzgerald is married to Lyn Corbett Fitzgerald, MD at Ogilvy, Chicago, so he has come to understand PR on a very different level than some of his peers.
PRN: What trends are affecting how journalists do their jobs?
Fitzgerald:
It used to be that wire service people were the only ones who had to worry about the 24-hour news cycle and now it's all of us in the media. Print reporters have to react faster today and at the same time, preserve the sense of reflection which has made newspapers such a valuable medium. That's a very tall order.
PRN: That's even more underscored when you have situations such as what happened at The Boston Globe (reporters were fabricating information) or the slew of retractions we've seen, isn't it?
Fitzgerald:
Yes. These things have hurt the profession. The American Society of Newspaper Editors recently released a survey which focused on newspaper credibility. By almost unanimous margins, it showed that those controversies have had a terrible effect. More than three-fourths of 3,000 people think that the press is biased. They think that powerful institutions can get newspapers to steer news coverage or even kill a story.
This survey also indicated that you can't assume a newspaper story is accurate - that's an awful thing. A surprising number of those surveyed had been interviewed in the past - about one-third (1,000 of 3,000) were the subject of a news story - with 31 percent saying they had been misquoted. What does that say: to know us up close is to have a sense that our credibility has slipped? It seems that the Globe and the Chiquita banana/Cincinnati Enquirer incidents show that just like with other professions (the stereotypes about cars salesmen, for instance), credibility depends on others as much as it does on ourselves, which is telling.
PRN: So what's the proper place for media relations in this mix - how should PR professionals better interact/work with journalists?
Fitzgerald:
They should remember that in a certain way spin has become a weapon that's used against everyone. The public is deeply suspicious of spin, columns that are too convenient and quotes that are too wonderful. The media has long been able to work behind a magic curtain, but now the public has pushed that aside and seems to focus more on how we operate. People are way more sophisticated and that trickles down to PR as well as the media.
PRN: But you must realize that sometimes the fluff comes from those higher up the food chain and the PR pro is just carrying out orders -
Fitzgerald:
Not to be unsympathetic, but that's their problem. What newspaper are finding out after the terrible summer when newspaper credibility was on trial is they have to go back to the basics. Those are reporting fairly, honestly and thoroughly and getting facts out there. And that's no less true for those in PR.
PRN: You're married to someone in PR - do you often have these debates, these discussions, about the difference between the press and PR?
Fitzgerald:
I think that there is a tendency for both sides to see each side as the most cynical, with little trust between the two. It's typical for the reporter to view him or herself as the idealist seeking the truth and to think of those in PR as flacks. But she has shown me that there is idealism on the other side as well. They see themselves as idealists serving the public interest, no less than journalists do.
PRN: Other than the Internet and credibility, what kind of business trends will affect the news industry? For example, we see all these M&As and know that publishers are entering into similar partnerships and paring down ownership and the marketplace of ideas.
Fitzgerald:
I do believe we will continue to see that kind of consolidation, and that it could have an affect on journalism. It won't be on the scale of Canada where an upwards of 80 percent of newspaper circulation is controlled by two companies. There will be a more corporate business approach to newspapers, they won't be family run, and depending on the corporation, they can look at content as bothersome thing or a way to set themselves apart. This is a crossroads we're facing. About the homogeneous comment: I'm always struck when I see pack journalism that the press today throw enormous numbers of people at stories but they all seem to come up with same story. There is less competition in terms of perspective and I think that's a worrisome trend. The newspaper industry must continue our agenda-setting role, particularly in our printed products by being forward looking and presenting people with an idea of what's coming next. (312/641-0043)