Strategic Use of Media 2
and other activist groups to influence the organizations they
oppose. He notes that the most important element of campaigns
developed and implemented by activist groups is the communication
strategies they employ, in particular the use of the media to
influence organizational publics.
Media relations and media placement has long been a
foundation of the practice of public relations. Public relations
texts generally devote a chapter to media relations and the
importance of placing stories about an organization in various
media outlets. In addition, the Public Relations Society of
America “body of knowledge” identifies literature and scholarship
regarding media relations. Gaining media coverage of the
organization is considered a significant element of public
relations and indeed, is often used to distinguish it from
advertising and marketing (Wilcox, Cameron, Ault, & Agee, 2003).
A premise of doing good public relations for an organization is
that the public relations practitioner develops relationships
with reporters, editors, and news producers in order to influence
the placement of stories about the organization in the media
(Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 1994; Hendrix, 2001; Wilcox, Cameron,
Ault, & Agee, 2003). The media is an organizational public that
is to be analyzed, understood, and communicated with in order to
achieve organizational goals.
Staging events to attract media attention and coverage to
accomplish public relations goals is a common tactic employed by
Convention