According to PR News, the format and delivery of news releases is changing. What was once thought of as a useful tool to disseminate important updates or a public statement is now much more. The article explains that news releases should be put out often, essentially following any company update and they should be interactive. This includes a multimedia approach with links to related content, audio, video or images.
The new way of looking at news releases coincides with the popularity of the Internet. More and more people consume of the news through this medium. In fact, as of August 2017, the Pew Research Center reported that 43 percent of American adults often get their news online.
The multimedia aspect shows the way in which web content broadens the possibilities of news coverage. Take, for example, a New York Timesvideo on the New York transit system. Here, one can see an organization that is perhaps best known for its print content, producing a video that contains text, references to other material, audio and fast-paced editing. If viewers wanted, they could click off and do independent research based on the people and facts referenced. Also, the pacing and some of the stylistic choices would make it appear as though the Times is targeting the younger audience finding its news on the web.
Since the nature of the Internet is such that it is updated constantly with new content, public relations professionals need to keep the flow of new information about a product or brand going at a consistent rate. Otherwise, there is a danger there that the brand has become “old news” and not worth the audience’s attention.
A final important way to engage the audience is by allowing them to engage with the content. Other than links to follow, many readers would likely enjoy being a part of the conversation. The article, video or press release functions as a diving board. Now, let them jump in and give their opinions. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, either by adding a comments section to the piece or website or providing contact information to whom readers can voice their questions, concerns and thoughts.
News releases are no longer disseminated to the public solely at the discretion of an editor publisher. The web allows for direct access to these important updates. As I have said in many of my past posts, the audience is fast becoming the journalist. That also means an added layer of responsibility to decide what is news.
Barbara Goldberg, a corespondent for Reuters, will be speaking at 6:30 p.m. in Nursing Room 105. All journalism and public relations students are encouraged to attend. However, this talk is open to all. She will be speaking about how social media plays a role in modern-day reporting.
Reuters is an international news wire service, similar to the Associated Press. The media outlet was founded in 1850 and since then, has garnered award-winning coverage. In 2017 alone, two of its pieces were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize.
According to Victor Jeffrey Serote, the organization’s coverage is widespread. Reuters boasts a staff of approximately 2,400 reporters in nearly 150 countries. The website also claims that Reuters is “the worlds largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day.”
Serote also wrote that, because Reuters corespondents are stationed all over the world, deadlines do not exist at the organization. There is an understanding that stories and other components such as video and photography are due as soon as possible. Serote suggested that this understanding among reporters creates a 24-hour schedule where news is constantly flowing into the organization and being put out.
According to Barbara Goldberg’s Twitter account, she covers news in the Northeast region. She seems to frequently feature the work of other journalists on her page, from Reuters to The New York Times.
Before Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, I worked with my classmate, Samantha Todd, to get students’ thoughts on the hearings, sexual misconduct allegations and FBI investigations that surrounded this moment in history.
While live tweeting, we used the hashtag #QuestionsOnKavanaugh. We believe that the hashtag has two benefits. One, it is short and has sound repetition with the first and last word, making it easier to remember. Two, it quite literally describes the event, as we were asking students our “Questions on Kavanaugh.”
We gathered opinions on the basis of three questions. First, we connected Kavanaugh’s political history to the controversy surrounding further FBI investigation into his life.
The question read: “The FBI is looking into the sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh. The White House has authorized the FBI to interview anyone the FBI thinks is necessary. Kavanaugh served in the George W. Bush White House. Over the course of his career in the federal government, Kavanaugh has undergone six background checks. The FBI has previously done a background check on him as part of the White House’s review process of vetting him for the Supreme Court. Do you think it’s necessary for the FBI to investigate Kavanaugh again? Why or why not?”
We asked this question, in large part, to add context to the debate. I’m unashamed, even as a journalism major, to admit that I knew little about Kavanaugh’s past before the U.S. Senate hearings. We did not want to assume that students knew everything there was to know about the judge before going into this discussion. Whether or not Kavanaugh should undergo another FBI investigation was a major question leading up to his confirmation. Therefore, we wanted to know what students thought about it.
The four students interviewed all agreed that the FBI should proceed with another check into Kavanaugh’s past. Students said, if the FBI did not investigate, they would be less trusting of Kavanaugh.
“I think it would be very reassuring for the country if another investigation was launched,” said Liam, a sophomore public relations major.
We followed that question by asking, “Do you think Kavanaugh should be nominated to the Supreme Court. Why or why not?”
We asked this question because, after providing context, we wanted to give students an opportunity to take part in the dialogue or the central question. Three out of four of the students seemed to agree that, in that question, there were many aspects to consider. Ultimately, they said, the findings of the Senate and FBI would determine their answer.
Veronica, a senior creative writing major, expressed her mixed feelings on the topic. “How do I have faith in a justice system if I don’t trust one of the highest powers,” she said. “But, at the same time, if he’s innocent, then I feel bad.”
Thomas, a junior history major, said Kavanaugh should not be confirmed because, in the wake of these allegations, Kavanaugh’s credibility is damaged in the eyes of many Americans. He explained that Kavanaugh’s confirmation would, in turn, change the way people view the Supreme Court for the worse.
Lastly, we asked students if they believed the Senate would proceed with Kavanaugh’s confirmation. We ask this because we wanted students to look ahead to the future, take all the components we talked about and reach a final conclusion.
Again, three of the four interviewees said the Senate was likely to push Kavanaugh through, as he had both Trump and Republican Party backing.
Even though Kavanaugh is now officially a justice of the Supreme Court, his confirmation is meeting continual backlash. I regularly see pictures of protesters’ signs on social media as they display their discontent around D.C.
Our interviews provided a sample of beliefs on the issue in an attempt to make sense of this contentious time.
Okay, admittedly, the title of this week’s post is a bit dramatic and also implies that there is a clear answer. Ultimately, I land somewhere in the middle.
Twitter has its uses, both for journalism and PR. As Forbes suggests, PR professionals can use the platform for announcements, news releases and contest launches among other tactics. In a 2012 post, the late Steve Buttry laid out 10 reasons why journalists should be on Twitter, all of which seem valid. I particularly identified with his top reason, finding breaking news. As Campus Life Editor for Seton Hall University’s The Setonian, I routinely look for stories on social media.
However, to put it bluntly, there is a risk of getting caught up in the platform and becoming lazy. Based on experience, I can more easily relate to how this affects journalism as opposed to PR. Most journalists cite Twitter as a key place to look for sources. Many articles even have embedded tweets in them as a means of gauging public response to news. However, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) many accounts on Twitter are in fact bots and not real people.
There is a way to check on this. For example, running account name through Botometer can help determine if the account is real or not. Since bots are usually designed to participate and share in the spread of propagandized information, a journalist who does not verify his or her source could unwittingly be aiding in this goal.
However, if a journalist or PR professional is careful about their source aggregation, Twitter can doubtlessly be a useful tool. Individuals in both professions can find a litany of ways to gain followers and spread their messages and stories. One way to gain followers on Twitter is to add your name to a directory, as per the Forbes article. If people want information on a certain topic, you can be listed as a go-to source. If the content is engaging enough, you will likely have yourself a new follower. Forbes also mentions the benefit of adding a twitter widget to your blog, like the one on mine. If you regularly keep your Twitter account updated with regard to upcoming posts and news, visitors to the blog will see that and may follow you to keep updated.
Even though, at the outset of this post, I said I landed somewhere in the middle on Twitter being a must or not for journalism and PR, I will conclude by saying that there are far too many benefits to the platform to ignore it completely. Another way to look at the fields I just mentioned is to point out that they both involve communication. Social media, whether it be Twitter; Facebook; Instagram or whatever platform to be introduced in the years to come, has become the way billions across the globe communicate and connect. To ignore this change is to be in the dark when it comes to the media industry.
On that note, for the latest on what is happening with Julie’s Corner be sure to follow me on Twitter at @SHUSocialJulie. If you’re interested to learn more about what’s happening at Seton Hall, check out the blog I run with a classmate, Campus Rundown! We can be reached at @CampusRundown.
Erick Agbleke, a SHU student in his second year pursuing a master’s degree in diplomacy and international relations, applied to three summer internships last October to fulfill a degree requirement. His first choice was to work with the U.S. Department of State; his second, the U.S. Embassy in France; and he didn’t think his third choice would pan out. He wasn’t called for a second round of interviews and Agbleke said he thought that’s where it would end.
To his surprise, he got a call within a couple months of applying saying that he was selected to work in Togo, a country on the west coast of Africa and Agbleke’s birthplace. Agbleke left the country at the age of 13. He explained that this internship abroad opened his eyes to what diplomacy is like in practice and allowed him to be an agent of progress in the region, both in terms of U.S. relations and Togo’s own political/economic obstacles.
Students packed their bags to spread diplomacy overseas.
“Being able to witness diplomacy from the front row seat is pretty awesome,” he said. Agbleke worked alongside the Togolese government at the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Lomé. While there, he said he played a variety of roles, from researcher to project manager with a focus in the economic/political sector. One project he noted was an initiative to end wildlife trafficking in the country.
According to both Agbleke and a 2018 report from the BBC, wildlife trafficking has been and continues to be a major issue in the country. Togo is a popular transit point for poached ivory and animal skins. A commonly used port is located in Lomé.
Agbleke said he was tasked with analyzing the difficulties that the government was having with trafficking and then creating a proposal to combat those problems. He suggested the government create a “working group” comprised of law enforcement agencies, members of the scientific community and nongovernment organizations that would be dedicated to wildlife conservation.
He said he also had a valuable experience working as a facilitator for a U.S. team as they studied election-related violence in the area. Though Agbleke said that he learned a great deal about his area of study, he acknowledged that the length of his internship prevented him from seeing these projects to their end. He explained his view on the situation. He said he is dedicated to service, having served in U.S. National Guard since 2011 and recently transferring to the Army Reserve.
“For me, it was about service,” he said. “It was another way to serve the U.S.”
Jillian Lope, who is also a second-year master’s student studying diplomacy and international relations, felt a similar call. For her summer internship, she worked at the U.S. Embassy in Valletta, Malta. She said she was originally attracted to the area in part to learn more about the migration crisis there. Lope explained that, while the use of ships is common in Maltese commerce, (the country being on the Mediterranean Sea) it is also a common tool for migration.
Due to the fact that most of her work is classified, Lope spoke generally on the topics she encountered while working at the embassy, saying she oversaw areas of Maltese society from pop culture to politics. Though she had to adapt to a new culture, she said there wasn’t much of a “culture shock” except for getting used to the heat during those summer months as well as the bug population.
Lope offered a word of caution to all diplomacy and international relations students looking to have a summer internship abroad. “I know that this internship would not have been possible for me if I didn’t have previous internships,” she said. She added the that she had prior experience at the United Nations and in the non-for-profit and private sectors. “It’s a really long process and you have to work really hard for it,” Lope explained. She recommended that students wanting to intern abroad should stay up-to-date on current events as well as maintain a professional resume.
Approximately 1,185 miles away (by car and a ferry ride) from Lope, Patricia Zanini Graca was completing a 10-week fellowship in Geneva, Switzerland. In the same graduate program as Agbleke and Lobe, Graca’s focus this summer was security. She worked with Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), more specifically, in the Latin American and the Caribbean Unit. Given that the DCAF in part works with policymakers to help develop security sectors in nations worldwide, Graca said that her favorite part of the fellowship was creating factsheets and analyzing life in Latin American countries.
“Some of the most violent countries in the world are in Latin America,” she explained. “Venezuela, Honduras and Guatemala have higher homicide rates than Syria.”
In addition to data analysis, Graca also worked to organize and promote various events and initiatives. She would publicize these updates through blogs and articles. As a part of her duties, she also managed the Latin American and the Caribbean Unit on social media as well as the DCAF website.
Though these students were all in pursuit of master’s degrees, undergraduates have a variety of avenues to explore in terms of a study abroad, whether it be through faculty-led tours, an exchange program or through a third-party company, separate from Seton Hall.
According to Olivia Koloszuk, a graduate student worker in the Office of International Programs at SHU, studying abroad as an undergraduate can be an invaluable experience.
“Students should study abroad as much as they are able to,” she said. “They can learn so much about themselves, their degree programs, various cultures and explore places all over the world.”
Graca, when discussing her travels, echoed a similar sentiment. She said, “I think the key to adapt is to travel light, meaning leave your judgments and misconceptions at home. Never generalize anything or anyone. Each person and situation is unique, and there is always something to teach you.”
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