originally posted to www.carnsight.com 

This guest article was kindly contributed by Hannah Newton, freelance journalist who’s work has been published in The Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph – to name but a few.

The agony and the ecstasy: adventures into the world of journalism via PR

I think it should be mandatory for every politician and councillor to work in a state school as a teacher or cleaner, behind the till of a supermarket, in a homeless charity or in a small business, digesting the ‘real world’ their constituents experience daily. This, surely, could only benefit their decision making, bridging the motley, layered world we inhabit, with the government’s idea of it.

Journalists, I have concluded, should do the same with PR agencies. This week I have been given a sneak peek behind the PR curtains and as a freelance journalist it has thrown the issues surrounding the, so called dark arts of PR, into stark relief.

In the journalism sector we often look down on PR professionals, thinking, quite mistakenly that as reporters we are superior. I am not exactly sure where this myth came from, because the truth is we are all writers, crafting original ideas, trying to get them published. We have the same pain points: getting ghosted, navigating a fast-changing media landscape, having an overwhelming inbox, trying to find new angles, manage multiple editorial relationships and make some money to pay the bills.

As a freelance journalist I want positive, mutually beneficial and enjoyable relationships with the many PR’s I work with and the rules of engagement are simple.

1. Don’t just bung a random press release my way, check out what titles I write for and what subjects I cover. Do any of your clients fit? No? Don’t get in touch! If they do, let’s talk.
2. What I am looking for is: ideas, beautiful, original, interesting ideas that can spark a conversation. Trends, changes in the market, opinions that reflect industry news, dark untold titbits of a sector that need a light shone on them, stats, case studies, exclusive conversations and research.
3. Court me! Journalism is notoriously badly paid, we love a freebie, it’s one of the few perks of the job. Take me out for lunch, brunch, tea or to an exhibition. Yes, I know I am hard to pin down, we all are, but don’t give up on me. A real-world relationship is worth a thousand emails to a virtual one. And btw, we don’t all live in London, so don’t expect us to make it to breakfast press briefings, have you seen the cost of trains before 10am?!
4. One of the hardest jobs for a PR is managing client’s expectations, but our currency is delivering a balanced feature, it can’t be all about your client, but I think you know that. Your bottom line is your commercial client, ours is our editor, our editors’ is the readership and the board. We need to meet somewhere in the middle, which means accepting that changes will occur, edits are mandatory, and photo credits are often wrong – sorry about that.
5. Like all good relationships the foundation is built with trust. Please tell me if you have shared your story idea, contact or exclusive with multiple editors or journalists, there is nothing worse that pitching these to my contacts when they have already seen them and said, no thanks, or even worse, yes please!

I have so enjoyed working alongside Carnsight, a small, hardworking team of PRs. It has pushed me out of my comfortable, yet illogical, superior seat as a journalist and reminded me how similar and human we are, and that we want the same results: interesting, well-crafted copy.

I want to champion the PR-journalist relationship, shift the old school mindset, and forge a new, more positive relationship in our sector and I hope you might join me?

@hannahnewtonscribbles

More from Hannah Newton to come – later this month, read her eight tips for working with freelance journalists

About Carnsight Communications

At Carnsight Communications we create strategies and campaigns to showcase our clients’ brilliant work through PR, content and social media. We help them get noticed by the right audience, at the right time. We specialise in creative agency PR.