Public Affair class summary -- - Essay Example

Lee Chapter 3: Media Relations by Jerome Sadow that focuses on the role of communication directors in the government who work within their organization and most importantly with the media. The major consideration is paid to the methods of communication such as writing for the speeches, press releases, pointer-outlines for the executives, issue backgrounders, letters to the directors and other team members, op-ed columns and the Radio and TV interviews. Sadow has presented a straight forward analysis on the tactics and strategies applied by Public Relations.

According to him, there are more than one ways to deal with the media. To be successful in the media relations a complete understanding of different media types such as print, broadcast and online media is essential. Moreover, the message is not always delivered as intended so to deal with the criticism an appointed spokesperson must have an authoritative, factual and credible way of approaching things. The criticism should be dealt with logical reasoning and denial is not an appropriate way of dealing.

Moreover, the communications person must have a strong grip on all the media parameters with written plans, various options and deep investigative period to control the crisis and leaks (Lee, Neeley and Stewart). Fitch Chapter 1 This chapter is well focusing on the media relations. Fitch in the chapter suggests that a person should choose to work in an organization or with the boss who shares the similar values because it will make that person a stronger advocate of his missions. Before starting up with any organization a proper research should be done on its history, previous records, their stated goals, missions and strategies and the long term plans.

Clashes of interests in this line can lead to failure so using the strategic positioning is mandatory. After completing the research and acquiring information about resources get familiarized with the media itself. It could be done by analyzing the perspectives of all communicators such as reporters and then by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of those potential partners and looking up for all opportunities and threats. The most important asset is the press list so it should be built and updated on time.

Further there should be an emphasis on internal environment and timely strategies for the control of politics are essential. Other than that, the communication strategies should be developed so that all the criticisms and reviews of people could be handled intelligently (Fitch and Holt). Fitch Chapter 2The major focus of the chapter is on explaining tools that are used in media relations to achieve goals and establish proper media integration. The start is through the written form of media relations.

Press releases are the central tools that can persuade the reporters to cover up stories. They require having strong leads that are one to two sentences long with the quotes to emphasize emotions. Press advisories are used to alert media for the upcoming events and they include the basic information. Backgrounders are the in-depth memos which should be used to convey straight facts. Op-ed pieces can add value to the debate so they need to be strived timely. Other tools are the press conferences which should be used to develop strong public relations, photography for the positioning and subjectivity, direct mail audiences to target specific audience, clarify topics and generate responses from receivers, Radio and Television feeds for reaching the mass targeted market and other general public (Fitch and Holt).

Works CitedFitch, Bradford and Jack Holt, Media Relations Handbook for Government, Associations, Nonprofits, and Elected Officials. TheCapitol.Net, Inc. , 2012.Lee, Mordecai, Grant Neeley and Kendra Stewart, The Practice of Government Public Relations. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group, 2012.