Businesses and their relationship with the media are vital to the reputation a business will hold. Media relations departments want to make sure that they have good relationships with the right people in the media. It wasn’t until the 1950’s when media relationships started to form. The invention of the television in the 1940’s introduced media to the world, and with the take off of the Internet in the 1990’s media has become a major part of the business world. Businesses are going to have to deal with media whether they like it or not, because reporters get paid to be relentless. Many businesses do homework on reporters to help strengthen their relationship with the media, this tactic can really help a company gain a positive reputation in the public eye. Many businesses make the mistake of spending millions on advertising but little to none on media relations departments. This can cause the company to gain a bad reputation, if a reporter is treated wrongly by a business that reporter can write any kind of review they would like about the company. Media is everywhere so it is important to always make sure you are keeping a positive image no matter the situation, because you never know if a cameraman/reporter is lingering around.
Holding a relationship with the media can be a very irritating process. Whether it is a press conference or personal interview reporters can ask some very stupid and repetitive questions. I cannot speak from the business aspect of the media but I have seen personal interviews get very interesting from the questions reporters ask. Maintaining a good relationship with the local media can really help out a business, because regardless of how the business is if the media portrays them with a positive image they will always have consumers. In this day and age image is everything, many athletes have lost tons of money due to negative pictures, articles, comments they have made. Just recently the best swimmer in the history of Olympics was caught smoking an illegal substance and it was the media him lose a lot of endorsements.
http://www.makli.com/tiger-woods-interview-today-0026383/
This article is about Tiger Woods and his first public press conference since his situation that happened on Thanksgiving. Tiger Woods is one of the biggest names in media today. Whatever he does will find its way in the media in some form. I do not think he needed to even have a press conference apologizing for what he did because that is his own business and the only person he needs to apologize to is his wife. But I do realize how media portrays things and by him having a press conference, I think it saved him and his name a lot.
By: Pat McDanel
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I think it is not really true when saying that: "regardless of how the business is if the media portrays them with a positive image they will always have consumers". A good relationship with media is only one of many ways for a company to gain a good reputation. Nowadays, consumers are more knowledgeable and they do not blindly make purchasing dicisions based only on what media says about companies.Therefore, companies cannot rely only on media for their businesses, they should also focus on their real operations in order to be trustworthy and gain the loyalty from customers.
ReplyDeleteFor businesses, I agree with Hoa that a company gains good reputation not because of media, it is from the solid operations that create the useful products and services. Media only reinforces that “good reputation” to be “better reputation”. Because of mass media’s and the technologies’ abilities to proliferate both good and bad news, most of the companies have no choice but to comply with the media so that they can retain their positive images.
ReplyDeleteFor Tiger Woods, in my opinion, he can choose not to have the press conference at all because what he did is solely his personal affairs. No matter how bad the media wants to dig the hole, he can always use the slogan “deny, decline, and delay”. I am impressed that he actually confessed of what he did was wrong and asked for the public apology. I can roughly guess what he did that as he is a public figure and if he did not appear in front of the media and make clear of everything; it will indirectly affect his career as a professional golfer. This is very similar to the former president, Clinton’s scandal.
I know that people are not perfect. However, do you not think that using “people make mistake” as an excuse is too much in many situations?
The Tiger Woods situation was just bad in general. Although it is a personal matter and nobody's business, it just adds to the long list of people who cheat on their wives or husbands. It is very hard to have the "perfect" role model in today's world. Tiger is one person who I thought was one of those "perfect" role models, or at least close to perfect. Even though the media is very powerful and Tiger wanted to do his best to tell people his side of things, I don't really know if it was really necessary at this point in time. I think he has done a lot of damage, and I think that many people feel that he only really owes an apology to his wife. I didn't watch the whole public apology that Tiger gave but the few minutes I did see did not seem very sincere, at least to me. I think he should be focusing on his personal life, get it straightened out, and then worry about the media. Sometimes you have to get your priorities straight. That may seem a little harsh but just my opinion on his situation.
ReplyDeleteI was just talking to my husband about Tiger's public apology and he said that the only people who got to attend were the people who were invited. Tiger knew who would be there and knew who would obviously say and write good things about what he said instead of anything bad. I just thought that was interesting, so I figured I would add that.
ReplyDeleteI always feel that a company's relationship with the media is a reflection of a company's capability to handle various relationships. In modern world, businesses have to handle and response to a lot of stakeholders not just customers. The company's relationship with the media can give a company both a good or bad image. It have made it difficult for businesses to prevent both positive and negative news about them from reaching individuals in virtually all corners of the world.
ReplyDeleteTiger is one of the most famous individual of the world, his damaged image would make him lose many endorsements. Just as you mentioned, how media portrays things and by Tiger having a press conference saved him and his name a lot.
Media certainly played an important part in the Tiger Woods situation, because that married people are cheating on their wife or husband this happens every day and everywhere, but “journalists” do not usually care about such scandals. If you take a concrete example, golf is very important in the USA, like basketball or baseball or football, do you think you will have an article or such a scandal each time one of these superstars is cheating on his wife? Do you really believe they are all perfect husbands? Certainly not, so why Tiger Woods had to do public apologizes? In front of his mother in addition…Personally I do not understand that in the USA, this is happening again (the all Europe was laughing at Clinton when he had to apologize, this time it is still as ridiculous), but I believe that he had a very good reputation before this happened and for the press it was easier to create a scandal with him than with other stars. Then, his reason according to me to do have a press conference is just to try to save his career, and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteNow concerning companies, media relation is obviously very important, but it is probably just one part of the company’s image or reputation. And as we are studying, consumers are now less easy to convince and looking for deeper information than just statements in the media.
Its very true that Companies will always strive to have a good relationship with the media because they know that having a good relationship with the media is very helpful to them.The public trust media so much such that anything that comes out of them is always perceived to be true even if its not always the case....negative stories about big companies or famous personalities are always very "juicy" and the public like to hear much about them so much..and the more people want to know the more the media make profits.Therefore,its business for them so expect them to cover such negative stories.
ReplyDeleteI think all that you have said indicates that it is necessary for companies to have a good relationship with the media. It will help them when negative issues come about and as Jessica said, Tiger Woods knew who to invite to his public apology, so companies can do the same thing and help their reputation based on their relationship with the media.
ReplyDeletei think the media has the responsibility to report the "fact" to public. however, its difficult to put the personal prejudice aside. for instance, media can report a story in different triangle that makes things looks completely different.
ReplyDeleteAbout Tiger woods, he responded to media and used the media power to apologize in public on time save his name a lit bit since he finally admitted the mistakes and tried to save his reputation. if he refused to do so, he might loss his reputation even more.