Posted by Matt Purdue
If you want to know what gives a serious journalist goosebumps on the back of his/her neck, or, in today's communications parlance, what "resonates" with them in terms of "engagement," read Gideon Rachman's recent column in the FT. Rachman sets out to describe the perceived differences between American and British journos, in so doing, he presents in 900 words perhaps the finest description of journalism as craft that I've ever read. (Thanks to my colleague Joe Becker over in our digital practice for dropping it on my desk.)
American journos, Rachman writes, see their job as a civic duty. This partly explains why they are willing to work for peanuts, and partly explains why many newspaper executives have been so slow to adopt new technologies and business strategies in the face of digital competition. One portion of pride, an equal portion of hubris. Rachman hits at what beats inside the chest of every journalist when he quotes the UN commander in Rwanda during the genocide as saying, "A reporter with a line to the west was worth a battalion on the ground." Most journalists truly believe (or at least hope) they have this power to change things.
Certainly reporters rake muck and sensationalize. For every Watergate story, there are 100 bits about rats at a KFC. But most PR folks could find more success in what they do if they remembered that journos have a bit of the idealist in them. Clients may continue to insist that a PR rep get the latest new product announcement printed word-for-word in their favorite trade pub. But, in the long run, that's not going to do anyone much good. Reporters know they aren't going to make a difference in the world (let alone in their careers) by covering the latest upgrade to the widget of the month. But help a reporter develop an angle that just might alter the status quo, and rest assured they'll come back to you again and again.
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