Abstract
I feel compelled to begin with a confession: Before entering academia, I worked for roughly 20 years in the public relations (PR) industry, focusing on media relations and guerrilla marketing campaigns on shoestring budgets for a wide range of clientele. As such, I approach this book review with a deep reservoir of experience in performing this work. I want to begin by disclosing the lens through which I reviewed this book: Could my students understand “how to get good press,” like the book asserts you can do following reading this book? My short answer is, well, maybe, but probably not by this book alone.
The book jacket asserts that Accessing the Media takes the reader behind the scenes to understand how best to work with press to get publicity. Perfect for politicians, business leaders, lobbyists, and media junkies, this reference provides an insider’s look at how the modern newsroom works, detailing the different roles of reporters, editors, and producers. Readers will learn how to forge relationships with media personnel in television, radio, print, and the web to craft the press coverage they want. (para 1)
In this respect, the book invites novice-level coaching by the author for an approach to publicity that would work well in a media relations–type class coupled with technical and business-level writing instruction. As a stand-alone, this book tries to introduce mostly the concept of press jacking and even sometimes using manipulation or “spin” as a means to “good press”—this is a cause of grave concern for PR practitioners and members of the media, alike. This book also touches upon a long-standing topic of discussion—the role of the media (in the United States). Osborn additionally addresses issues such as fake news (pp. 1–8), media bias (p. 14), “ways to ‘leak’ to the press” (p. 29), how to achieve newsworthy moments to receive what she calls “positive press” (p. 13), and how to “be a friend” to the media to receive positive press (p. 22).
Perhaps the greatest concern in reading this text is the author’s misinterpretation of the nature of an effective relationship between practitioners and reporters, which ought to be of mutual benefit (Ledingham & Bruning, 2000). Specifically, the consistent discussion is around fulfilling transactional elements of media relations alone. Osborn’s consistent aim in “controlling the news” is problematic. I could argue along with most other PR practitioners and all associations with a code of ethics (PRSA, PRCA, SPJ, etc.) that we do not work to “control” the press. Ideally, we work alongside the press to advocate for our clients by providing, or at least attempting to provide, news-worthy content for our counterparts in media, which in some areas she also consents to (p. 76). Practitioners do not craft the news. Implying anything to this effect is ethically dubious and a potential breach of the public trust for any journalist. This argument would be intellectually inconsistent, with the majority of academic programs offering degrees in journalism, PR, and other affiliated forms of strategic communication.
Another item of concern in the text that dovetails with the previous concern is advising people who wish to gain media attention to “notify them without directly disclosing yourself as a source” (p. 29). She fails to accurately describe the role of media within the relationship to and with PR, the duty of the media to report fairly and factually, and the process of gaining credible relationships with members of media to not just get a one piece of media coverage, but rather engage in a symbiotic relationship with members of the media. Osborn’s remarks again exhibit a lack of respect for the professional relationships practitioners form with members of the media, implying that stories will only be printed if reporters like you, although I do feel compelled to say hints of the contrary do pop up occasionally, albeit the majority still manages to reduce practitioner–journalist relationships to something purely transactional in most areas of the book.
I would not call this a “do-it-yourself” type of book as the back cover would indicate. I handed this to a member of media I work with to skim quickly before I wrote up this review, and she quickly regaled to me examples of pitches she has received even in just the last few months that were definitely “do it yourself” as this book could advise, but lacked the backing of (a) formal education around PR, (b) any sort of relationship with the member of media, (c) actual newsworthiness, and (d) lack of professionalism or respect from the “do it yourselfer.” She maintained that these pitches were sent with the “best of intentions” but almost always failed to deliver based on a number of things that a professional would implore.
For example, Osborn frequently asserts sending assets along with your press release for the reporters’ ease of covering your story, but many members of the media usually would prefer not to get attachments from strangers, let alone something they would have to download for use. While it is important to provide assets to our reporter, this is a risky behavior that could either lead reporters to reject the email or that the email server would automatically strip or reject the email as spam. So, while this is a good “next step” with your known media friends, a “cold pitch” might risk much ado about nothing in this space.
Another example of this conflict present is in the structure of Osborn’s press release structure. Her templates more closely resemble what PR educators and practitioners alike would consider a media alert (or advisory). In context, however, it may be the examples present just so happen to be events. This is something she could likely expand upon in future volumes so as to stick more closely to the inverted pyramid writing style used by PR professionals, journalists, and other writers to illustrate how information should be prioritized and structured for the reader.
Finally, tips like “Ways to ‘Leak’ to the Press” (p. 29) offer advice on executing some unethical practices to aspiring practitioners at a time when our discipline is calling for a more robust, concerted emphasis on ethical practice in the ongoing effort to enhance the professional reputation of the discipline (CPRE, 2018). In short, the book’s central thesis and the resources provided to aspiring practitioners appear to be in diametric opposition to recently articulated principles of best practice in educating those interested in working in the field of PR.
All concerns aside, there are some valuable elements in this text. The author’s graphical representation of process-based media relations techniques is strong, like the “press release checklist” (p. 43) which shows how to “entice a reporter with concise information.” There is some value in every alternative perspective. Osborn does take the reader through a process that is cloudy to the public, to say the least. I really do appreciate her role as a member of the media in the construction of this book as perhaps a partner to traditional PR pedagogy. This book presents a “hustle” factor that is largely neglected in a classroom in telling students how they could or would pitch media. For this purpose, this book does come through very strong. It offers an “entry-level” job perspective of those nuanced items that are rarely disclosed except through experience of the “how” to work with media which is not as easy as an email pitch and then waiting for the media to roll in—which is what your clients always think it is.
Some items I will personally take into my intro to PR and media relations courses are the following sections: “why certain stories are covered” (p. 32), “timing in the national news world” (p. 53), “timing in the local news world” (p. 55), “the best times to contact the news” (p. 59), and “three points of contact” (Chapters 3, 5, 8, 9). In addition, I enjoyed and will likely adopt some of her simple tools which have direct application to a classroom. The items included the following: “three points of contact” (p. 18), “success chart” (p. 23), “behind the scenes: the perfect press release” (p. 40), “press release checklist” (p. 43), and “weekly newspaper schedule” (p. 97), and the samples located throughout the appendices operate as handy quick and dirty access for students looking to grab a media-based internship or entry-level PR job in media relations, right away.
While differing on the perspective of the how, one theme that I do agree with the author on is her assertion that “reporters need the truth and folks need to know how to access reporters”; the rest, as noted, is a matter of practice, perspective, ethics, and above all else, relationships.
