Public Relations and the Field of Journalism: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

     Billy Baker is a feature columnist for the Boston Globe in Boston, Massachusetts. His beat covers Boston culture, accent included, as well as Boston happenings and celebrations (mainly the drunken festivities of Saint Patrick’s Day). Being a journalist who focuses on culture, as opposed to corporate business or consumer products, it seems unlikely that Mr. Baker would interact with, let alone rely on, public relations professionals. Baker, however, believes that, “Getting a PR professional onboard is the best.”

 

     As a feature journalist, Mr. Baker loves the opportunity to use his press pass, “as a backstage pass to the world.” He figures that ninety percent of the work he does is “idea creating”, while the other ten percent is spent exercising his talents on assigned pieces. Because his work focuses mainly on expressing his unique observations, Baker knows the characteristics of a good, easily read, easily understood, deeply engaging article. He does not simply look at Boston and search for stories. Rather, he looks at Boston as, “a canon from which unique content can take flight.” For example, rather than look at Boston’s new Mayor as the first in over two decades, Mr. Baker chose to instead focus on Marty Walsh’s thick Boston accent and what it said about his presence behind the Mayor of Boston’s desk. This article received rave reviews, and many commented that Baker’s culturally relevant perspective put unsure voters at ease following a close election.

            

     Mr. Baker understands that people think the work of a feature writer is unimportant, except from, maybe, a culture-building perspective. To combat this, he purposefully aims to only write about the “unawares.” It is the unawares that lured Billy Baker to make feature writing his career, as well as being the reason his name has become a household staple in Massachusetts and the rest of New England.

           

     Mr. Baker describes unawares, as the phenomenon/events/people that unexpectedly catch the eye of an unwitting driver while cruising along the road. Most journalists, in Baker’s opinion, are aware of this concept, but do not take the time to train themselves to look for these unique writing opportunities. Rather, “they choose a topic. And I know these topics are coming.” Instead, Baker says, “Seek to find a story.”

 

     One manner of seeking out topics for story ideas is Twitter, the one form of social media that Mr. Baker finds useful from a journalism perspective. Baker believes, “There is a freedom in publishing quickly to Twitter. A tweet can be sent immediately with crucial information, and then followed-up upon just as quickly with corrections.” Specifically, Mr. Baker acknowledges that, “Twitter during a crisis is vital to a public that is getting its information immediately. A better system for covering a minute-to-minute story couldn’t be devised.”

 

     As alluded to above, the professions of journalism and public relations are intertwined. Mr. Baker is aware of this shared professional relationship, and encourages future practitioners from both fields to uphold the association. Baker was not always of this mindset, however, and once ascribed to the stereotypical understanding that public relations professionals hide the full truth from the public believing it will benefit the public. Now, he fondly remembers an interaction he shared with a public relations professional, whom he credits with the immense success of a resulting article about the renovation of the Boston Aquarium. The description of his experience is revealing about the trade of PR. “I did it as a follow. I had some time, and went there three to four times over several months.”  The public relations professional who Baker worked with, “…made sure [Baker] was there for the most cinematic parts of experience.” Baker remembers this person regularly saying, “Here’s the best way for you to see the coolest part.” In positioning Baker so that he could see the most essential interactions occurring at the aquarium, Baker credits him with, “putting [Baker] in certain scenes, so that [Baker] could write the story from the movie-scene point-of-view, which made the story much more creative and visual.”

 

     Overall, Baker believes his experiences working with PR professionals have been successful. As he says, though, “I’m a feature writer. I seek out PR professionals when I need them. Not the other way around.” Baker’s desire to seek out PR professionals highlights the main advantage of the mutually beneficial relationship that journalism and PR professionals share. The main benefit being that the relationship is mutually beneficial. It is not simply a connection invented by public relations professionals to manipulate journalists into writing on their behalf. Rather, journalists, like Billy Baker can tap the potential of the relationship as well. And in doing so, inexperienced journalists will realize what Mr. Baker realized some time ago, “[Public relations professionals] make the interactions happen more easily, and no one gets treated like a kid with their nanny.”