Stempra newsletter

The impact of blogging on PR and the media– two different questions

Blogs have provided the subject for many a public relations seminar over the last few years and so it was surprising to see such a sizeable attendance at the CIPR’s ‘Blogs and citizen journalism – how it is affecting PR’ event in July. Pete Clifton, Head of BBC News Interactive, and Martin Stabe, Online Reporter for the Press Gazette were selected by the CIPR’s Greater London Group to share their views on blogging and the rise of citizen journalism. Both successfully drove home the message that blogging is completely changing main stream media operations, largely due to increased speed and the democratisation of communication.

Pete Clifton noted the wealth of information, both in terms of eye witness accounts and visuals, available via blogs in the aftermath of the Buncefield explosion. The sheer speed at which information spreads throughout the blogosphere has challenged the BBC’s traditional ‘rapid response’ methods.

He went on to discuss how the BBC, with its online and interactive initiatives is responding to the growing empowerment of traditionally passive information consumers. The Editor's blogs for instance enable readers to discuss directly with the Editors their content choices.

Martin Stabe also acknowledged the frequency with which influential blogs now feed traditional mass communications channels, with many journalists admitting to checking particular blogs on a regular basis or even publishing their own blogs. Martin also raised the concept of 'citizen journalism', noting that it is indicative of the critical lack of confidence people now have in the media. The idea that we should acknowledge self-publicised material via blogs as journalism devalues the training, impartiality and systems of verification which govern the profession.

It was a genuinely interesting analysis of how the latest interaction of technology and people is influencing mass communication, and from a media relations and a crisis managment point of view it was easy to interpret the implications that the points raised by Pete and Martin are having on public relations. Yet what this event lacked was a truly penetrating discussion from a public relations perspective of how blogging is affecting the industry in the round and at a practical level.

Lindsay Smith
Media House

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