Anyone who has been in the Public Relations business for any length of time soon realize that newspapers (and most other media outlets) rarely do a very good job of actually reporting about themselves.
As an example, newspapers absolutely hate it when someone tells them “No Comment.” But in 99% of cases that is exactly how they respond when asked to comment about their business from others in the news media.
Reporters despise PR folks who do not return phone calls. However, when a reporter calls them for a comment the chances of them returning the call fall somewhere between slim and none.
That’s why it is always an interesting task to analyze how a newspaper publishes news about itself.
A classic example was the announcement (2/6) in the Island Packet, a McClatchy-owned newspaper based outside of Hilton Head Island, SC.
The Packet announced its publisher would be also taking over duties as publisher of The State newspaper in Columbia, SC.
First, it is doubtful this news would have warranted 15 inches of front-page coverage. Or another 18 column inches on the inside.
For a normal business it would have likely been buried in the Business section and covered in two paragraphs with a possible thumb-nail photo.
“I’ll continue to support energetic and fair news coverage — the kind that has distinguished The State, The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette over the years,” Sarah Johnson Borton said. “At the same time, our newspapers will seek to be good corporate citizens in each of the communities we serve.”
Does anyone honestly believe this puffery quote if provided by a corporate executive would ever make it into a newspaper?
Not a chance.
How about this ditty? ”McClatchy Company’s vice president for operations, Mark Zieman, who oversees the company’s newspapers in the Southeast, said Borton will bring passion to her new post as a leader in public service journalism and digital journalism.”
No reporter on earth would have used that quote if it came from a company.
In fact, in a news release it is often called a “throwaway quote” that PR staffers insert to make a corporate executive happy. PR practitioners know it will never be used by any self-respecting media outlet.
Skeptical readers would likely point out that the main reason for also making Borton the Publisher is likely to save money. There is no need to pay big money to hire a new publisher when it can just be added to her existing duties.
But you will likely never read that in most newspapers.
UNFORTUNATELY TRUE
How true, John.
How unfortunately true.
THROWAWAY QUOTES
Many newspapers and wire services run throwaway quotes all the time, not only in business stories, but even more often in political coverage. Many publications also use quotes from press releases without identifying them as such, thus creating the perception that the quotes came from original reporting.
And then there’s the common practice of regurgitating a company’s boilerplate. When a story describes a company as “a leading provider of ____,” it’s a safe bet that that phrase came out of the first sentence of the press release. Most companies says they’re a leading provider, but few back up that claim up with something that passes the straight-face test, such as a respected analyst firm’s ranking by sales, revenue, market share, etc.
When I see throwaway quotes and boilerplate in stories, it makes me wonder what else the reporter took at face value.