The PR Cassandra

In yet another photo retouching scandal, CBS slimmed down news anchor-to-be, Katie Couric, by some 20 pounds in a newly released PR photo.  CBS made light of it, but this comes back to an issue of trust and integrity from a news source.

Are news anchors “spokesmodels” or journalists?  I keep hoping for a backlash against the ageism and always-28 syndrome that the media and fashion industries seem determined to put on women.

As noted in the Washington Post: “Couric debuts in the anchor’s chair Sept. 5. CBS has spent millions on marketing to prepare viewers for her arrival.”

Are we now so image and celebrity-obsessed that even the non-tabloid media is willing to risk it all on a phony PhotoShopped image of the new anchor for a major broadcast network?

Of course, it’s “all about the Benjamins” – aka advertising dollars and bottom-line revenue for CBS.  I expect to see the tabloids go to town on this with a series on Couric’s weight – which trivializes her as a professional news person.

Maybe there is no more news on broadcast TV – maybe it’s all just a front for marketing, ad dollars and revenue, in this case, for CBS’ owner, Viacom.

As noted in the previous post – there is currently much discussion about the fate of the PR staple: the news release or press release. 

Longer approval cycles due to corporate control designed to reduce legal liabilities and increase brand equity, are holding up product and company news that is coming at a faster rate.  With time-to-introduction so reduced, it is getting harder to schedule a release for a certain date and then back up for pre-promotion, so the media aren’t getting old news or news thrust upon them without time to react.

Yet, the amount of news release volume seems to be exponentially increasing for a number of reasons:

1.  SEO links back to one’s web site

2.  Company web sites becoming self-publishing information sites that require fresh news

3.  Web sites that aggregate daily news

4.  The growth in low-cost web-based news distribution services

5.  The demand by upper management for quantifiable results (“we want to see 20% more news announcements than last quarter” – I’ve heard that more than once)

6.  Online access to virtually any journalist or blogger

and other factors.

Yet, as innundated as the media are with news releases, they often rely on them.  One week pre-promotion time is about as much as PRs are going to get, so we make the most of it. 

Large enterprises with major PR budgets (40k/month and up) can afford to hire large PR firms who can put a team of people on to alerting media to future announcements, along with information or access beyond the release itself. 

Start-ups, non-profits or emerging growth companies are often better off with a smaller, more strategic boutique PR firm (a category in which Agora falls) or single experienced PR contractor who can alert a smaller group of influential media, bloggers, pundits and industry analysts, that can achieve corp PR goals while remaining within a much smaller budget.

We’ll continue to discuss this.