Today I’m sharing the latest from my media relations class. Our task was to interview a reporter about work habits, newsworthiness, and the relationship between journalists and PR folks. A hundred thanks go to Joe Cote and Felice Freyer for accepting my interview requests! If you are a reporter, I’d love to hear whether you agree, disagree, or have anything to add.
Joe Cote starts his day at 1 p.m.
But don’t think he’s the kind of guy who lives with his mom and lays around in sweatpants all day playing video games. Cote is an evening beat reporter for the Nashua Telegraph who covers general assignments and breaking news. The story most often associated with his name involves the murder of 43-year-old nurse Kimberley Cates and the trials of her killers.
But like anyone with a desk job, Cote begins his day with a routine.
“I go through email, press releases, anything like that,” said Cote. “Then I look on my website and talk to editors and take over stories that happened throughout the day. After that, I have more time to look for stories I’m really interested in. There’s a number of sites that I read daily, mostly online news. I follow a lot of journalists on Twitter.”
While Cote has a Twitter presence and follows other journalists on Twitter, he doesn’t use the medium to search for sources. “If I’m looking for experts, UNH has a great database,” said Cote.
Another way that he looks for experts is through public relations professionals.
“It can be mutually beneficial,” said Cote. “We don’t want to do advertising. We don’t want to do PR but sometimes good interesting news stories are also interesting via a good relationship with a PR person.”
In some ways, public relations professionals can make journalists’ lives easier.
“It can grease the wheel,” said Cote. “Who should I talk to? Who really knows their stuff? Where can I go? They are much more plugged into their specialties. Laura Kiernan in the judicial courts, for example. I will call or email her and she immediately knows who to talk to and can give me their phone number.”
Felice Freyer, a health care writer for the Providence Journal, agreed that in certain cases public relations professionals can be useful. In her industry, doctors are a critical part of her stories and they are not easy to reach. Freyer explained that not only are doctors very busy, but they can’t always see the value in being interviewed. In these cases, public relations professionals can bridge the gap.
Though public relations professionals can help, they can also serve as an obstruction.
“It can be frustrating at times,” said Cote. “A lot of them tend to pitch stories that are very self-serving…There has to be some kind of hook…A hospital’s state-of-the-art building – there’s some kind of news there because it’s a resource that’s available to the public. ‘Our company donated 10,000 dollars. Will you come and take a picture?’ There’s a place for that in the paper but it’s not news.”
Though Freyer said her industry is flooded with potential stories, she looks for those that are relevant to a large number of people.
Another concern for both Freyer and Cote is when PR types sit in on a phone or in-person interview. The tenor of the conversation changes, according to Freyer, when the public relations person listens in on another line. She also pointed out that media coaching strips people of their authenticity.
One tip that media coaches give is that nothing is truly “off the record,” and Cote confirmed the danger of that phrase.
“It’s tricky,” said Cote. “You’ve got to be very clear about what’s on and off. It’s easiest to say ‘no thank you. I’d rather not go off the record.’ If you have an off-the-record conversation, you have to be clear when it ends. It’s not always possible and safest not to do it.”
Though the public relations industry and its tactics receive criticism from the media, neither Cote nor Freyer assigned blame.
“For the most part…they’re not bad at their jobs,” said Cote. “They have different aims than we do. They are after getting their company to look good. That’s what their job is.”
Freyer added that some public relations people are tasked with concealing certain information and this stands directly in the way of Freyer doing her job, in essence, finding the truth.
“Some PR people are very good,” said Cote. They know what reporters want and how we can both get what we want. We can get interesting important news for our readers.”
Today’s Sugar: One of the best ways you can help a journalist is by giving them direct access to the thought leaders within your organization. Just be sure to answer your phone when they call!
Here are some facts about “fun Julia”:
PR Sugar 