PROs: Change 'Holier Than Thou Attitude' For Public’s Sake
By Staff Reporters

Bandar Seri Begawan -Public relations officers (PROs) need to be more in tune with the way that the media works. More than anything, the onus is on them, as it is their entrusted responsibility, to carry out a higher sense of urgency when it comes to calling reporters back or faxing documents or press releases.

Most of the public relations officers in the country view the media as a means to promote whatever they want to promote, and therefore they have a built-in mentality that "reporters work for us". First of all, the private media does not work for them, nor are they employed by them.

However, the private media also bears the same, if not more, responsibility of trying to get the information across to the public. What is truly needed is a symbiosis, a synergy, a collaborative partnership between government media relations officers and the private media - where in order for them to get what they want published, in the way they want it to be published, they, in turn have to provide the private media with enough help and information to write a balanced, fair and complete story.

Sadly, not a day passes when one reporter is met with an unappreciative or unhelpful PRO, who either has no time to fax over the information, is unable to arrange the necessary interviews with someone who is authorised to speak about the event, or even simply, to just call back.

The most frustrating thing out of all this is when PROs, whether from the private or government sector, play the 'blame-shifting game' when not enough information is printed, or when the published information is incorrect.

Another frustrating thing about the mentality of public relations is that when a press release is duly provided, 80 per cent of these are not newsworthy.

They are either a promotional article or a short three-paragraph "article" simply stating who was there and why.

Most of the daily coverage of events that happen locally surely aren't restricted by national security issues. But the common perception, held by many government relations officers, is that the news medium should just be a daily calendar of events.

They seem to think that just by informing the private media of who was there, when and where would sufficiently sate the local public's appetite for news.

Okay, But what about the international readers - those that may want to invest here, or are even thinking of coming over for a holiday or just learning about the country?

It is when there is very little official information that is regularly updated on the website that people will seek out other alternatives that are readily and vastly available on the internet.

But then again, as the very first rule of news reporting, has this information been verified?

A leaf out 'of one particular department's book that should be made as a role model is that of TAP's, or the Employee Trust Fund.

They always manage to offer their help in every way possible. Whenever there is any doubt of any situation, its Corporate Communications always manages to answer any questions regardless of the time and whether it be outside working hours and offering their personal handphone number at the same time.

Both parties depend on each other to have any chance of presenting news stories that are accurate and complete to the public.

It is necessary for journalists and PR practitioners to make compromises and negotiate together in achieving their main objective, which is to serve in the best interests of the public and the field they represent respectively.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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