The World of News in 2008
Addressing the three E’s: Economy, Election, and Ease

It’s obvious that news is changing. Consumer preference for immediacy and involvement roils the news business at the same time as a troubled economy and hotly contested election propel online news and social media into a more prominent role.

The fact that the online world poses a challenge for many PR professionals is apparent as well. Although traditional media is still highly influential, PR practitioners are aware that they can’t rely on one form of media.

This year, PR professionals are working in a challenging news environment.
Economy: The world economy is sputtering — credit and housing markets, fuel costs and currency devaluation crowd the news. PR professionals aren’t immune to the effects of belt tightening. Like their marketing counterparts, PR professionals are looking online as a way to get more bang for their buck. In fact, 56 percent of PR, marketing, and management professionals expect to increase their budget allocation for online video, podcasts, and rich media and more than half plan to increase spending on Web 2.0 media. On the other hand, professionals anticipate a decreased budget for traditional media — with print advertising seeing the largest decline. (MarketingProfs, B-to-B Marketing in 2008: Trends in Strategies and Spending, 2007).

Election: As the presidential race plows on, competition for outlet space and journalist attention intensifies. Many PR professionals are being forced to look for alternative ways to get their stories covered. It's no surprise that both businesses and campaigns are using all available means to get their news out there. Those in PR would do well to watch how the campaigns use new media as part of their outreach. The elections provide a good public example of how to best handle comments and feedback via blogs, social networks, and forums.

Ease: PR professionals still have much more to know in order to operate optimally in all forms of media. With four generations of media (print, radio, TV, web) and new digital tactics being devised every few months, keeping up with the options can be a full-time job. Weighing the options, making sound choices, and understanding how to execute it all well is no easy feat.

Mapping the trend: Where is the news headed?
While it is nearly impossible to predict the future of media, both traditional and digital outlets are likely to persist. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, “the majority of journalists (print, TV, and radio) say that journalists still serve as the gatekeepers of news and information. More than 90 percent says society benefits from their continuing to fill the role”. What is changing is how journalists process the information they receive. As time goes on, journalists expect to be both informant and moderator.

About BurrellesLuce
Let BurrellesLuce be your source for media outreach, monitoring, and analysis. We cover more U.S. media than anyone else — monitoring over 50,000 online and offline media sources. Media monitoring is where BurrellesLuce started, but today it is just one of the ways that we help you maximize the value of your media relations results.

• First, target your messages to those most likely to write about your efforts using the industry’s most comprehensive online media directory. Take advantage of free, unlimited e-mail distribution of all your news releases.
• Next, monitor your coverage from every form of media. We deliver exactly the news you want to see, complete with all photos and graphics.
• Then, gain insight through our automated and customized media measurement services.