Page 197 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

Public Relations in the Digital Age: What’s Changed and What Hasn’t

Among the many social effects of the media studied over the years is
the concept of agenda setting. Ithaca College professor and former ABC
correspondent Chris Harper (2002), who specializes in journalism and
digital technology, notes, “agenda setting occurs when editors choose
specific types of stories as news and eliminate others, thereby establish-
ing what you should think about” (p. 313). Yet blogs, Web sites, and
discussion groups are helping average citizens to understand issues to a
far greater degree than ever before. The agenda-setting function of the
media erodes almost by the hour. Proof of their waning influence in this
regard is the credentialing of bloggers as media representatives at the
Democratic and Republican national conventions in 2004. The wired
world opens many affordable communications channels to everyone,
leveling the playing field and reducing the impact of the media’s agenda.
This same democratization of information also increasingly empow-
ers individuals to a degree never before seen in our society. The Internet
gives anyone, anywhere, the opportunity to pull information together
in any way they want, free from others’ interpretations. This environ-
ment makes it essential that public relations practitioners provide clear
information that can only be interpreted one way. Effective message 187
design is crucial because individuals are getting fewer cues from other
sources to guide their thinking.
The convergence of media has created a more vertical media
environment for public relations practitioners. The multibillion-dollar
partnership of AOL-Time Warner offers one example of the tremen-
dous change this media convergence is visiting on communication.
Integrating cable, Internet, broadcast news, and print media into one
organization provides us with the opportunity to communicate our
messages to a virtually unlimited public. The potential that our mes-
sage will be carried on overlapping channels provides us with a much
greater chance of reinforcing what we are saying than in the past.
Corporate media convergence has provided us with the opportunity
to reach more people, more quickly than ever.
The other side of this equation, though, creates the scary possi-
bility that we may be shut out of these media channels. The power
of these media conglomerates to say “yes” or “no” to your communi-
cations creates the real possibility that practitioners could be coerced
into reshaping their messages into a form more palatable to the media
organization.
Multimedia provides us with far richer message channels, lending
greater robustness to our communication. Greater interactivity also