The Importance of News Knowledge in PR
It often happens to us that for different reasons, emotional and rational, we move away from the consumption of news, whether on television, radio or social networks.
Don’t you feel that sometimes the news, especially political news, intoxicates you, makes you feel bad? Possibly yes. In contexts such as those of political campaigns, fake news and more, those involved in the news and the recipients of it can feel the impact.
Despite this, as public relations practitioners, we are precisely the ones who should be behind these issues for many reasons, no matter if we intend to work in the political field or in other areas of PR.
News knowledge is important for public relations because we are guardians of the conceptualization of threats and opportunities for the organization or people we advise. We need to stay informed by surfing the waves of the news rather than watching one channel that may contain bias towards a certain political candidate or ideology.
By consuming and analyzing different mass media, we also make war on fake news at the same time. Aside from mass media, it is also important for public relations practitioners to tune in to small media, local journalists and even municipal radio stations. In countries as large as the United States or Argentina, the national media is not enough to inquire, investigate or collect information on specific towns and neighborhoods.
The importance of knowledge of the news is totally intrinsic, inherent and indispensable to us. For this reason, I encourage all of my PR peers to refer to all of the examples of news sources listed above with frequency.
Federico Forastier is 28 years old and currently living in Buenos Aires. He has experience from his time working in Corrientes government where he organized events, supervised the image of the Security Minister, worked in internal communications and helped with both social media and press. He started studying public relations at UCES but then transferred to UADE, where the thematic is leading the scholar and employment field. In this intellectual field, his favorite areas are political communication, digital social media and diplomacy. He is an amateur musician and guitar player, a nature devotee, a fitness motivator and tennis lover.
