Reporters everywhere should start taking notice of what Stephen Clark is up to in Detroit. As the anchor for the ABC affiliate, WXYZ, Clark is a staple on the metro Detroit media scene. A few weeks ago, I talked to him about the real-time feedback and conversation system he was creating with his viewers. It’s called the #backchannel and it’s reshaping the Detroit media market.
If what Clark is doing in Detroit gains traction and becomes a more mainstream practice, PR professionals are going to have to up their game when pitching media. They’re also going to have to pitch an entire empowered community.
Clark started by encouraging viewers to tweet during the news broadcast: comments about stories, comments to each other and general conversation loosely related to the news developed. Then version 2.0 was born as viewers reacted to the news and initiated actions based on the story content. So, Clark asked the backchannel to start contributing to the news. He wanted story ideas and he wanted content. Photos, videos, interviews, amateur produced media that would tell the stories of Detroit and put stories on Clark’s radar. Community generated stories were born. In a place like Detroit, the request to help find the good news means a major change from what viewers are used to.
Now onto backchannel version 2.1, Clark tasks his viewers with becoming digital correspondents, reporting tips, and acting as field reporters whenever appropriate. But the community still gets to vote on what makes it through. When someone gets spammy, Clark asks the backchannel to rise up and call them out. It is community controlled, so what the group wants, the group gets. Clark ultimately decides what ends up on Channel 7, but he cares deeply for his community and has put trust in its hands.
Enter the PR professional. The traditional media relations tactics don’t work in this environment. Obvious pitches don’t work in this environment. We’re not just pitching overworked, time-strained reporters with slots to fill anymore. We’re pitching an active, engaged group of people with a voice they know will be heard by its on-air representation. And they’ve been specifically asked to help weed out the nonsense.
So what works? Truly newsworthy stories. Let me say that again, truly newsworthy stories. Stories that feature human beings. Stories of innovation and goodwill. Stories of companies, events and people that represent the community. Stories that produce compelling visual content. A ghostwritten quote from your CEO just isn’t going to cut it anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, good press releases and pitches do exist. There are many PR professionals who are really great at creating and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with reporters and know how to make relevant pitches and put their client’s or company’s news in front of the right eyeballs. But if backchannels take off, two major changes will have to happen.
- Pitches will require compelling visual content. A press release just won’t be enough. PR staffs will need to expand storytelling abilities from just words to other creative means.
- PR pros will have to represent their company or client AND the community at large. The good ones will be active backchannel participants. They’ll have no know what’s happening locally, in their specific industry and the reporter’s beat and coverage history. Not two out of three. All of it.
There’s a responsibility in PR to make on-target pitches and make the right choices when it comes to which media opportunities to pursue. But, keep an eye on Clark’s backchannel and if the model starts to appear in other markets. Soon, pitches will need to be on-target to active community voices (read: humans with varied motivations aside from being paid to report news) and will just have to be better.
Talk about social media.
Thoughts?
Photo: Taken with Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. Exposure 1/250 sec. Aperture f/2.8. Focal length 28mm. ISO Speed 200.
Will Stephen be at Chevy EPIC Detroit?
Can’t say for sure, but I’d be extremely surprised if he wasn’t. Happy to introduce you if he’s there.
Thanks for posting this. I was aware of the hashtag and Stephen’s heavy involvement on Twitter, but wasn’t aware of the extent. This is helpful for PR pros.
As someone who is pitched and works with all levels on a daily basis – PR pros, reporters, the public – I can tell you that you’ve got a long road to climb.
Most PR pros in my experience aren’t even to the point of putting a link in their press release – and we’re talking ones with staffs and budgets – let alone the other things you talk about (which all takes resources). Baby steps.
So, in short – you’re right. But I think it will only be a few extra-hard working ones who have decided to allocate the resources (time, money, or combination thereof) that will be able to cross this threshold. It’s a great value opportunity.
Wrote a post about this awhile back on my frustrations on this.. http://portagemedia.com/socialcommentary/2010/07/17/put-links-in-press-releases-or-your-story-goes-in-the-trash/
I agree, Jeremiah. Baby steps. But, for those PR pros that are wondering why they’re already behind the curve, I think the fact that this is going on is something to think about. I really wouldn’t be surprised if more media outlets start using social technologies this way, so from a PR professional’s perspective, keeping an eye on it and learning to be on the front end of these changes seems crucial.
Is this finally the end of canned press releases with “news” that means something only to the C-Suite? Probably not, because PR pros know you have to occasionally butter up the bosses with drivel and ghost-written quotes inspired by company mission statements and sales instead of actual news. However, the best PR people will find a way to keep the time commitment to that kind of useless work in check as they beat the bushes to get actual news covered and reported to audiences that matter.
Great post Becky.
~ Ari
@aribadler
I’m so glad to see grassroots reporting gain traction in the mainstream media. If this is the future of journalism, I say huzzah.
PR pros will be forced to actually engage with the audiences they’re trying to reach if the #backchannel becomes the norm in markets all around the country; and the globe. That’s a great thing because the integrity of what public relations folks produce will have no choice but to increase. No more releases slapped together to meet a monthly quota. These releases will need to be researched and written with the knowledge that it’s not just an editor and reporter’s approval that’s needed. It’s an entire city.
I really don’t see a negative in any of this for anyone involved. It forces everyone to up their games considerably.
What this comes down to is education and the drive to learn about it. Many PR pros are behind the curve, but there are also those that truly want to work with reporters on their turf and with their terms.
The problem many will come against is stereotypes and past experiences working with PR professionals. Reporters have a long memory, and if they have had a difficult time in the past, will apply it to the industry as a whole. It’s not just a person, but if a bad experience is had, it’s easy to think that everyone is the same.
I think it will take efforts from both sides to educate, educate…. and wait for it…. more education. Each reporter will be different, but social media might make it a bit easer to know the Why and How.
Lauren Fernandez, Radian6
Good point, Lauren. Education on both sides of this equation is definitely something that needs to happen. A struggle between PR and media may always exist, for the reason you mentioned, that sometimes a small number of people ruin it for everyone. But I think social is different, and I think the way this backchannel is set up, the entire reporter-PR relationship will change because of the community element.
I’m excited to see the progression of what Stephen Clark is doing and watching what changes happen in Detroit PR and media because of it. At some point, it seems there will be clear winners, who really get it and are able to sustain the relationship. One more argument why companies resistant to social media need to stop resisting and at a minimum, start listening.
I have to commend Stephen for the way he is engaging his viewers. However, traditional PR tactics are far from being dead. On a daily basis, my company is engaging with local and national media to provide them with stories about emerging Michigan companies and organizations. Whether it’s a press release or just a well-crafted pitch to them, we have a great success rate when placing stories.
While Stephen controls the #backchannel, I still believe the news of the day is largely controlled by the news director, assistant news directors, producers and then closely followed by the reporters and anchors. And I can share with you from first hand experience, those folks that I reference above don’t need the video first in order to make a decision about whether a story will make it on air.
So I look forward to placing a story with Stephen’s #Backchannel in the near future, if a client’s story warrants it, but that’s not the only way in my “bag of tricks” to get a story placed on Channel 7 Action News.
You too may want to develop relationships with all of the station’s crew and always consider the traditional approach as well.
Thanks for your comment, Jason. Let me be clear, I agree with you that traditional PR isn’t dead. There is still a place for media relations as you’ve described. I’ve had success in traditional PR approaches and understand their value. But I don’t think the way news is controlled are going to continue as-is. Media across the board has changed and we must be wise as PR pros to understand that expectations of how we must communicate and pitch are evolving.
As media professionals explore different ways to use social, they’re going to realize the power of community and are going to start doing a better job of understanding who they’re delivering information to on a daily basis. Factors other than geography or niche subject matter are going to take on more importance. The idea that the media will always determine what’s newsworthy is quickly fading. It won’t disappear completely, but things like the backchannel prove that’s already changed. The backchannel is young, and I’m excited to see what it becomes and how other media adopts or ignores it in other markets. Only time will tell!
Love the post and agree, but would like to suggest that there are PR people who use “visually compelling” releases and that in general, a press release alone is never enough. Engaged PR pros learned that with social media they needed to learn to “expand storytelling abilities from just words to other creative means.” I think (hope) that is already happening. The days of the “Look at Us” solely self-promoting press release / pitch are gone.
I completely agree with your comments and hope they are being taught widely in universities and seminars: “PR pros will have to represent their company or client AND the community at large. The good ones will be active backchannel participants. They’ll have no know what’s happening locally, in their specific industry and the reporter’s beat and coverage history. Not two out of three. All of it.”
That’s the new PR 101, in my opinion. Or PR 2.0 for the dinosaurs, like me.
Great post Becky. You entered the PR world at such a fun time…so many opportunities for PR pros to challenge the traditional definition of the profession. And great photo too!
See you on the #backchannel…that is, when I can stay up that late.
I believe the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles also recently started doing this. We’ve been using our Five W’s and H version of traditional pitch with satisfactory success so far, but there may be an opportunity in the future for us to submit video via this “backchannel.” We would do it directly. KABC I believe maintains control over what is posted than what you describe in Detroit.
There are so many great parallels between what Stephen is trying to accomplish by creating this back channel and what Jay Rosen describes in the first few paragraphs of this piece, along with the video clip that’s just perfect:
http://jayrosen.posterous.com/the-journalists-formerly-known-as-the-media-m
It’s fascinating to think about how powerful this back channel will become when and if it’s the rule, not the exception.