Navigating the Transition and Leveraging Skills in a Shifting Media Landscape
It is no secret that the journalism industry is currently in a state of flux. Except for the lucky few, most outlets – spanning broadcast, print, and digital – have yet to devise a business model that would sufficiently replace the advertising revenue which previously sustained reporting and producing.
Consequently, many people in the industry, particularly those on the younger side like myself, find themselves assessing where their skills can translate into another field. Public Relations has always been a natural segue for those in journalism, as its effectively the other side of the coin. Still, I was unsure exactly how my skills would carry over, aside from my knowledge of the media industry. In my time working for KARV, I have noticed they manifest themselves in different ways. Two in particular stand out:
Synthesizing information quickly: As a reporter, even if you are covering a beat, you have to quickly understand a new subject almost every day. When I was covering the White House, I had to know enough about everything from inflation and economic policy to potential regulation of the tech industry to formulate questions for the briefing room that would help inform readers and actually yield new information. This ability has proven helpful when engaging with clients – I have been able to apply it to comprehensively learning about them in a way that will help formulate media and stakeholder strategy.
Writing copy: As a journalist, whether you’re a producer or a reporter, you are writing quick copy on deadline that must be error free. While the writing I do at KARV is different from an article or a television script, and the deadlines are (thankfully) usually a bit more manageable, the years of experience working towards writing error-free and succinctly have come in handy.
Of course, there are major differences. At KARV, rather than reporting the story, I am working with the media to shape it by illuminating our clients’ narrative and objectives in a way that will universally resonate with stakeholders. This has required some shift in thinking, because I need to understand what will differentiate a client in a way that will grasp the media’s attention, particularly in the era of consolidation and budgets already described. Still, this work has reaffirmed for me the symbiotic relationship between Public Relations and journalism, and the importance of media and journalism as a crucial pillar for democracy.
