Material

TE Theory 5 Developments in Media Practice Technology

A. MEDIA IN PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES

If it is related to function, the success of public relations (PR) basically lies in whether the organization / company where it
belongs and its products are recognized and accepted by the public. This means that other parties or the target public are
happy and interested and feel satisfied to build relationships or use the products of their organization / company.

Public relations practitioners must be able to give the identity of their organization / company correctly and correctly and
be able to communicate by applying communication techniques and selecting the right media. In this case PR is a
management function based on an analysis of the strong influence of the environment, what and how the effects and
impacts on the internal and external public and regulations are processed into plans to be realized for the benefit of both
parties, namely: organization / company and the public.

1. Media Relations

In general, the function of PR is to create two-way or reciprocal communication by disseminating information from the
organization / company to the public and channeling public opinion to the organization / company. In this case, media
relations is one part of PR related to communication media, where in addition to using mass media, it is also used to
support other activities held in activities such as: community relations, customer relations or investor relations.

Communication media is needed as a very important and efficient means of communicating with the public. This
means that in order for communication with the public to be well maintained, all interests of the mass media for the
organization / company must be responded to, namely by fostering and developing good relations with the mass media
in order to meet and respond to the needs and interests of the mass media towards the organization / company. This is
so that the objectives of the PR program that have been planned can be achieved properly.
 On the other hand, media relations is also a special / unique function in a PR activity program, because mass media
involvement is beyond the control of the organization / company. In this case, media relations as a relationship with
the communication media to conduct publicity or respond to media interests in the organization.

In general, media relations can be defined as part of external PR that fosters and develops good relations with the mass
media as a means of communication between organizations and the public to achieve organizational goals. In this case
the outline of the flow of communication in media relations can be described as follows:

1). Organizations / companies convey information, ideas or images through the mass media to the public, while the
public can convey their aspirations, hopes, desires or information through mass media at the organization / company.

2). The public can also convey directly through the communication channels available between the public and the
organization / company.

2. Internal Communication Media

In relation to the Internal Public, the function of internal communication in PR is to ensure that the internal public such
as: employees / managers and shareholders know what management is thinking and vice versa, management knows
what the internal public is thinking. This means that a public relations practitioner must be able to create a
communication climate that is persuasive and informative, analyze problems, responses or behavior of employees and
shareholders to policies and activities carried out by the organization / company.

Furthermore, in relation to the media used in internal communication, according to Rosady Ruslan, they can be
grouped into four parts, namely:

a) House Journals, such as: monthly magazines, company profiles, company annual reports, bulletin and tabloids.
b) Printed Materials, such as printed materials for publication and promotion in the form of booklets, leaflets,
business cards, memos or calendars.
c) Spoken and Visual Word, such as: audio visual, video recording, and so on.
d) Media meetings, such as: seminars, meetings, presentations, discussions, exhibitions, special events,
sponsorships and gathering meetings (Ruslan, 2014).
3. External Communication Media
While in relation to the External Public, namely parties who are outside the organization / company but have an
interest in the organization / company, such as: the press, government, banks, suppliers, customers, consumers or the
surrounding community / audience, external communication functions in PR is to strengthen relationships with people
outside the organization / company so as to form favorable public opinion on the organization / company, in the sense
of improving the company's image and increasing public attention and attitudes towards the organization / company.
According to Oemi Abdurrahman, communication with the External Public can be organized through:
a. Personal contact
Namely actions for individuals who are directly related to the organization / company, where employees who have
direct contact with the public must be willing to listen to what the public has to say and ask him, must serve
patiently, and do not suspend services that can be done immediately
 b. Press release
Namely press releases such as: welcome texts, reports, results of interviews, meetings, events, and so on (must
pay attention to the techniques of writing, composing, and typing the messages to be conveyed).
c. Press conference
Namely, information given simultaneously or simultaneously by a government or private official to a number of
journalists.
d. Press briefing
That is, the provision of information is held regularly by PR officials (in press briefings usually information about
recent activities is conveyed to media representatives and questions can also be asked if journalists are not
satisfied and want more detailed information).
e. Press Interview
Namely interviews that are more personal / individual, where the PR or Top Management practitioners being
interviewed only deal with the journalists or reporters concerned.
f. Special events
Namely a special event as an important PR activity and satisfying many people to participate in an opportunity that
can increase knowledge and satisfy public taste.
g. Publicity
Namely one of the techniques in PR which is basically news written in newspapers or magazines or broadcast via
radio or television, which attracts public attention to activities or statements from people who are "prominently
involved.” (Abdurrahman, 2003).

B. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PRESS

1. The importance of building relations with the press in public relations
In a position as a liaison between an organization / company and the public, PR practitioners cannot help but build
good relations with the press (print / electronic mass media), because according to their function, the mass media is
not only able to convey messages to many audiences, but also educate, influence, supervise, inform, entertain and
mobilize. This means that through good relations with the press, maximum news publications or broadcasts can be
obtained which lead to the creation of publicity and a positive image of the organization / company.
According to Frank Jefkins, in general the principles of building good relations with the press are as follows:
a. Providing services to the media (by servicing the media), among others by creating cooperation and
reciprocal relationships.
b. Upholding a reputation to be trustworthy (by estabilishing a reputation for reliability), among others,
such as preparing accurate information materials where and whenever it is requested, bearing in mind
that the press always wants to know the best news sources to get accurate information and a reciprocal
relationship is established getting tighter.
c. Supplying good information manuscripts (by supplying good copy), namely providing good manuscripts,
attracting attention, duplicating images / photos, making image text, photos or sending good
newsletters, so that there is no need for much editing.
 d. Doing good cooperation in providing information material (by cooperation in providing material).
e. Provision of adequate facilities (by providing verification facilities), namely providing the facilities needed
by journalists when digging up news.
f. Building good personal relationships with the media (by building personal relationships with the media),
which is the basis for openness and mutual respect for each other's professions (Jefkins, 2004).

Meanwhile, activities in relation to the press include:

a. Press Conference, which is a meeting of journalists who deliberately gather to get information on topics that
are currently being discussed.
b. Press coverage, namely activities covering activities, events that can be covered by journalists can be mass in
nature such as openings, exhibitions, seminars, training, graduation panel discussions, sports competitions, art
performances and others.
c. Perception of the Press, which is a form of press relations in building good relations with members of the
press.
d. Press visits, which are invitations to a journalist or group of journalists, are often invited to visit a factory,
attend a new office opening which is followed by a joint review, or a demonstration of a new product.

2. The importance of rhetoric skills in public relations

As a persuasion technique of persuasion to produce persuasion through the character of the speaker, emotional or
argument, rhetoric plays a very important role in every story activity. In simple terms, rhetoric is a related concept and the
art of communicating orally based on good and correct grammar, logic and dialectics to persuade the public with opinions.
http://setiadarmawan.blogspot.co.id/2013/07/teori-retorika.html

Basically, there are three kinds of ways to utilize rhetoric, namely spontaneously / intuitionally, traditionally /
conventionally, and in a planned manner with the following description:

a. Spontaneously / intuitively
In daily spoken life, people generally take advantage of the rhetoric spontaneously. This is even more so if the topic of
his speech is just a topic of lip service, or other trending issues in daily interactions. In a situation like this, speakers do
not spend too much time and energy choosing language material, because it is only spontaneous, and indeed the
speech situation allows them to act in this way.
b. Traditional / Conventional
The traditional use of rhetoric is not only in the past. In the midst of modern life today, traditional speaking habits are
still developing. For example, in meetings or other formal meetings, people who are given the opportunity to speak feel
the need to mention the names of the rows of officials who are present, say thank you very much for the opportunity
given, and so on. This practice seems to have become a tradition in official speech at this time.
c. Planned
Namely, the use of pre-planned rhetoric is consciously directed towards a clear goal. For example, in politics, business /
economy, language staff, arts, education, and so on, including in public relations.
 In its development, rhetoric takes advantage of the development of modern science, especially behavioral sciences such as
psychology and sociology. The term rhetoric has begun to be shifted by speech, speech communication, oral
communication or public speaking. Recent rhetoric figures include: James A Winans, Charles Henry Woolbert, William
Noorwood Brigance or Alan H. Monroe.

Rhetoric as public speaking means speaking in public, especially lectures or speeches. Public speaking includes all oral
speaking / communication activities in front of a crowd, including in meetings, hosting events / MC, presentations,
discussions, briefings, or teaching a class. Even though it is not face to face, TV presenter or radio announcer includes doing
public speaking when viewed from the viewpoint of a large audience (public).

The importance of rhetoric skills in public relations, among others:

(1) able to convey ideas / thoughts to the crowd in an effective and respectful manner;
(2) support and facilitate the delivery of information / messages more effectively and efficiently, as well
(3) have ample opportunity to actualize all potential in front of anyone.

Besides that (personally) it is an opportunity for self-promotion, support leadership (leadership), foster self-confidence, and
can even boost achievement.

3. Press releases and rhetoric

a. Press Release

Press Release is information in the form of news that is made by PR practitioners and submitted to the press manager
or editor of the mass media (tv, radio, print media, online media) to be published in the mass media. Press Release is a
medium to inform new things about organizations / companies that are not yet known by the public (Soemirat and
Ardianto, 2004).

Press Release becomes very useful when there is a gap between internal and external public relations, there is
something that must be notified to the public about the latest developments or events related to the public relations
institution or place of work or there is something new that must be introduced to the public. For example: the
emergence of new products, newly created regulations, or new members or components of organizations / companies
that must be introduced.

Although the Press Release has the same format, it basically has different emphasis on the information, namely:

1) Basic Press Release

Includes a variety of information contained within an organization / company that has various news values for local,
regional or national media.
2) Product Release
Includes transactions about the target of a specific product or other regular products for a trade publication in an
industry. They can transact with their own products, customers use the product as a mainstay of business or
market control.
3) Financial Release
 Used primarily in fostering relationships with shareholders. In general, many local, regional and national media
focus on financial issues (if in Indonesia, the Indonesian Daily Economic Business and Neraca discuss a lot of news
about this financial or financial problem) (Bivins, 1991: 40).

Press Release is a writing activity that is mostly done by PR practitioners for publication through printed mass media
(newspapers and magazines) and electronic mass media (tv and radio). The parts / elements in the Press Release include:

1) Headline
Used to grab journalists' attention and briefly summarize stories.
2) Dateline
Contains the release date and usually the city the press release comes from. If the date listed is after the date that the
information was actually sent to the media, then the sender requests a news embargo, which the journalist is under
no obligation to honor.
3) Introduction
The first paragraph in a press release, which generally provides basic answers to questions about who, what, when,
where and why.
4) Body
Further explanation, statistics, background or other details relevant to the news.
5) Boilerplate
Generally a short "about" section, providing an independent background on the publishing company, organization, or
individual.
6) Close
The traditional symbol "-30 -" or the modern symbol "###" or the symbol "End" indicates to the media that the
release has ended appears.
b. Rhetoric
Besides being interpreted as speech or eloquence which is better known as Public Speaking, at this time rhetoric is
understood as "nonsense" or word games which also mean propaganda, in the sense of influencing or controlling
thinking or the behavior of others which technically consists of:
 name calling (giving bad nicknames, labeling theory),
 glittering generalities (nicknames with well-imagined associative labels), and
 euphemism (refinement of words to avoid a bad impression or hide the real facts).
In general rhetoric has two objectives, namely suggestion (suasio) and rejection (dissuasio), which in its
implementation:
 looking for materials and themes to be discussed (investio),
 arranging speeches in a priority scale / arranged based on the level of urgency (order collocatio).

Becoming a "Great Public Speaker" can be done in two ways, namely:

1) Practice, which is speech practice in front of friends, family, even dogs / cats or anyone who can listen, in
front of a mirror or using a recorder.
2) Building Skills, which is building public speaking skills by understanding public speaking techniques which
include preparation and delivery of Product and service quality.
3) Relationship activities and patterns
Judging from the relationship of the organization or company with the public, the response of the
organization's social responsibility, the quality of communication, customer experience, and the
communication network.
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