Do we still need journalists in the age of social media?

Do we still them?

Most definitely! Although they can make our lives a living hell... Journalists play a vital role in the society by helping us make a sense of our world by providing news and information we need. Furthermore, journalists are the first people to get the news especially when a big story breaks.

Image: Journalists at Oscar's trial

They are able to get facts as they themselves rely on sources. I do not believe that journalists write anything and everything they hear, hence journalists rely on sources and conducting interviews. Just by writing anything, journalist can be sued for things like defamation, slander, libel and invasion of privacy. Who are sources and how relevant are they to journalists? Sources can be a person, a sort of documentation, or a publication that a journalist use to get information.

Has social media taken the role of journalists? I guess this is a question on everyone's lips. I believe social media has a 'sort of' influence on how people are updated with the latest news. But one can not get enough information by writing news 140 characters. As we all know that Twitter is the fastest social media network that people use to stay updated with the latest news. I believe we still need people who are willing to spend their time finding out news on our behalf and all we do is read. Journalists are able to provide us with that. We cannot honesty be depending on technology all the time. With things like 'Power shedding' and 'Network jamming', I do not believe we can solemnly relay on social media. Though it has such powerful influence on how easy news can travel, we can not relay on it 100 percent.

Where do people get their news?

• 59.5% TV news                                
• 28,8% Newspapers
• 27.8% social media
• 18.8% radio news 
• 9.5% other
• 6% other printed publication 

Image: NEWS FLASH...!!!!

Public Relations Practitioners and Journalists

As Public Relations practitioners, a relationship with journalists is a necessity. What do I mean? We all know that Public Relations practitioners maintain communication between the internal and external stakeholders. With the great benefit of social media, I guess Public Relations practitioner's job becomes easy. Social media has really change the world. I believe this is true, but like I mentioned above... we can not depend on social media all the time. Especially us PR people.

This is the reason why I believe journalists still play a role in our society. I am going to share briefly the relationship between the two practices. Public Relations Practitioners has to find was to reach out to its external audience and this can not only be done via social media. This is the part where journalists come in. What a Public Relations practitioner then do is write a media release and then sends it to a journalist to publish it. Journalists do not just write everything and anything, but I do believe if one has a great relationship with that journalist, one may find one or two media release being published. Likewise, journalists can also ask for stories from Public Relations practitioners. Say for instance there's a huge tender between a local organisation and an international organisation, obviously all journalists will want to tell the story first. But if as a journalist, one has a good relationship with a Public relations practitioner of that organisation a journalist may publish the story first.

Its not a "sin" having a relationship with journalists, they are humans as well. Hence it is important to get to know them. I believe organisations can benefit greatly from journalists Here are a few tips that I bumped into while doing research about the relationship between a PR consultant and a journalist:

• Get to know a journalist's job, they might even helping you as a PR consultancy with writing and ways of gathering news.
• Stick to deadlines, journalists want people who reliable as their job keeps them up to their toes.
• A relationship may also be built, by always introducing your self well. Moreover do set up meetings to meet with a journalist in person.
• Make sure journalists has your contact details.
• If you work for a brand, for an example Nike do give journalists goodies. It does not guarantee publicity, but its a thoughtful gesture. 

Image: PRPs and Journalists