Swiss PR Day shed light on media change
The 13th Swiss PR Day, held Wednesday in Zurich, focused on PR and the media in the digital age and their future prospects. What was intended to be a challenging topic ultimately felt like déjà vu to the approximately 200 attendees.
The 13th Swiss PR Day on Wednesday in Zurich focused on PR and media in the digital age and their perspectives. What was created as a challenging topic was ultimately a case of deja vu for the 200 or so visitors. Internet & Web 2.0 are now established in editorial offices and PR factories alike, and the fact that there is a high level of dependency between journalists and PR consultants is no longer entirely new. What is more surprising is that no one is protesting against it. Prof. Stephan Russ-Mohl from the European Journalism Observatory (EJO) at the University of Lugano addressed the still tense question of where PR ends and journalism begins in the media. Using the principal-agent model, the communication scientist explained that not only journalists are dependent on PR agents, but ultimately the audience is also dependent on journalists. Today's media users are in a similar position to a child who sits at the end of the "Silent Post Game" and only receives the actual news in a distorted form or not at all.
Russ-Mohl emphasized that the balance is currently shifting in favour of PR, not only between PR and journalism, but also between PR and advertising. This development endangers journalism, on which PR remains dependent, because good journalism will continue to be financed by advertising in the future. We need to educate readers so that they are aware of this interdependent relationship,' he demanded. The public needs journalists for selection, and journalists need time to research. The more information is put online, the more important it becomes for journalists to make a reliable selection.
Russ-Mohl ruled out the possibility of journalists becoming superfluous in the age of information overflow in PR and the media. However, there are dangerous tendencies, so-called 'hybrid working models' among editors who work for media and PR clients at the same time. What he foresees for the future is a stronger division of the media market into a ?quality segment? with first-class researched journalistic information and a ?mass market? with free information, which is already emerging today with more and more free newspapers, PR platforms and the Internet.
The Internet specialists among the speakers at the PR Day, Marcel Bernet and Jürg Stuker, delivered the kind of information that is hammered into prospective PR students in every course today, such as speed is an important success factor, networking creates trust, online is indispensable or that Web 2.0 with its developments such as weblogs, wiki or podcasts should be observed and that the new Internet generation is rebelling against the existing media monopolies. Of course, the Internet is turning the classic information pyramid on its head, but does that mean that every ego-publisher with his intellectual outpourings is a problem for PR specialists, the audience wondered. Millions of blogs are about as important as millions of letters in the yellow post - they have to be read first. What news is it that a company's press office has to respond to inquiries from concerned consumers - whether they come from a blogger or not? And why is it so unusual when a blog topic makes it into the big media?
There are currently 2,000 weblogs in Switzerland, said the successful author Bernet, whose PR tips on handling the new Internet world and setting up media corners are well worth reading. Weblog operators are committed, numerous, networked and "exhausting". Bernet called them "ego-publishers" who benefit above all from the free infrastructure of the Internet. He did not call on every press office to set up a weblog, but his thesis that the so-called ego-publishers bring risks and opportunities for the reputation of large companies was considered daring.
An exciting practical contribution came from Klagenfurt-born Peter Warne, who has been active in the UK since his apprenticeship, most recently as external Communications Manager at Nestlé. Internet & Co. are not just for kids - the people who use Web 2.0 features are over 30, well educated and have money. This should be of interest to all PR professionals. Warne explained that the new Internet features pose completely new challenges not only for the media, but also for companies, but left unanswered the question of how to master the simple task of communicating quickly, efficiently and clearly in an increasingly complex world.
The "brave new world" in the media business was illustrated by the Managing Director of the CASH Group, Christoph Bauer, using the development of his print company into a "multi-channel offering". Bauer confirmed the trend towards advertising market financing and that new business models are emerging from this. There is a change in the behavior of the advertising industry and sectoral convergence is leading to new competitors. According to Bauer, who recently launched the business daily Cash Daily, which is to be distributed as eBooks in the future, multimedia offerings and even in-game marketing are playing an increasingly important role in the battle for advertising revenue.
The value creation of tomorrow will be 'multi-channel', said Bauer. CASH is exemplary with its concept - print, online and TV under one roof - but in good company. Topics and content are not simply played across several channels, but are ?networked? Bauer spoke of a 'new dimension of journalism', but failed to provide an answer as to what this would look like. The subordinate clause that print must continue to finance online was noteworthy. This led communications scientist Russ-Mohl to conclude that multichanneling tends to increase production costs for media.
An audience member who complained about the close link between PR and advertising in the regional daily media caused amusement at the end: 'They only want to sell advertisements as compensation for PR contributions. They increasingly feel like water carriers for the media. Russ-Mohl countered: 'We have known for over 20 years from research that 70 % of editorial news is based on public relations activities.
Russ-Mohl emphasized that the balance is currently shifting in favour of PR, not only between PR and journalism, but also between PR and advertising. This development endangers journalism, on which PR remains dependent, because good journalism will continue to be financed by advertising in the future. We need to educate readers so that they are aware of this interdependent relationship,' he demanded. The public needs journalists for selection, and journalists need time to research. The more information is put online, the more important it becomes for journalists to make a reliable selection.
Russ-Mohl ruled out the possibility of journalists becoming superfluous in the age of information overflow in PR and the media. However, there are dangerous tendencies, so-called 'hybrid working models' among editors who work for media and PR clients at the same time. What he foresees for the future is a stronger division of the media market into a ?quality segment? with first-class researched journalistic information and a ?mass market? with free information, which is already emerging today with more and more free newspapers, PR platforms and the Internet.
The Internet specialists among the speakers at the PR Day, Marcel Bernet and Jürg Stuker, delivered the kind of information that is hammered into prospective PR students in every course today, such as speed is an important success factor, networking creates trust, online is indispensable or that Web 2.0 with its developments such as weblogs, wiki or podcasts should be observed and that the new Internet generation is rebelling against the existing media monopolies. Of course, the Internet is turning the classic information pyramid on its head, but does that mean that every ego-publisher with his intellectual outpourings is a problem for PR specialists, the audience wondered. Millions of blogs are about as important as millions of letters in the yellow post - they have to be read first. What news is it that a company's press office has to respond to inquiries from concerned consumers - whether they come from a blogger or not? And why is it so unusual when a blog topic makes it into the big media?
There are currently 2,000 weblogs in Switzerland, said the successful author Bernet, whose PR tips on handling the new Internet world and setting up media corners are well worth reading. Weblog operators are committed, numerous, networked and "exhausting". Bernet called them "ego-publishers" who benefit above all from the free infrastructure of the Internet. He did not call on every press office to set up a weblog, but his thesis that the so-called ego-publishers bring risks and opportunities for the reputation of large companies was considered daring.
An exciting practical contribution came from Klagenfurt-born Peter Warne, who has been active in the UK since his apprenticeship, most recently as external Communications Manager at Nestlé. Internet & Co. are not just for kids - the people who use Web 2.0 features are over 30, well educated and have money. This should be of interest to all PR professionals. Warne explained that the new Internet features pose completely new challenges not only for the media, but also for companies, but left unanswered the question of how to master the simple task of communicating quickly, efficiently and clearly in an increasingly complex world.
The "brave new world" in the media business was illustrated by the Managing Director of the CASH Group, Christoph Bauer, using the development of his print company into a "multi-channel offering". Bauer confirmed the trend towards advertising market financing and that new business models are emerging from this. There is a change in the behavior of the advertising industry and sectoral convergence is leading to new competitors. According to Bauer, who recently launched the business daily Cash Daily, which is to be distributed as eBooks in the future, multimedia offerings and even in-game marketing are playing an increasingly important role in the battle for advertising revenue.
The value creation of tomorrow will be 'multi-channel', said Bauer. CASH is exemplary with its concept - print, online and TV under one roof - but in good company. Topics and content are not simply played across several channels, but are ?networked? Bauer spoke of a 'new dimension of journalism', but failed to provide an answer as to what this would look like. The subordinate clause that print must continue to finance online was noteworthy. This led communications scientist Russ-Mohl to conclude that multichanneling tends to increase production costs for media.
An audience member who complained about the close link between PR and advertising in the regional daily media caused amusement at the end: 'They only want to sell advertisements as compensation for PR contributions. They increasingly feel like water carriers for the media. Russ-Mohl countered: 'We have known for over 20 years from research that 70 % of editorial news is based on public relations activities.
