Week 7.

I found the readings really interesting this week, particularly "Oral Presentations," by Drew, (2001). This might have had something to do with the fact that I am required to do a presentation next week on media relations. (EEEEKKK !!!!.)

Firstly, after reading "Media Relations," Johnston (2005), I believe the most important point to remember is that public relations practitioners have an important role in providing media outlets with information for news stories.
Marshall and Kingsbury (1996), state that "PR has become one of the most important external influences on journalism ." (p.127). Also, i found it facinating within this reading to note that studies on the impact of public relations on the media reinforce this, as one study shows that 30 per cent of 2500 newspaper articles tracked were wholly or partially based on press releases. (Macnamara, in Choice 1998).
This made me think more about Public Relations practice as it lead to me question the role of PR practitioners. Do they have more power than journalists? Seeing as they present information to members of the press, thus allowing them to have the power of with holding information they do not want known, aren't they constructing what journalists are going to write? This thought consequently alerted me to the fact that PR practioners are essentially very skillful at gatekeeping.
Marshall and Kingsbury (2004), also suggest that PR practitoners decide which media forms receive the information they have constructed in the forms of media releases, media kits or, who attend media conferences. This reinforced my belief that PR practitioners may be the head honchos in the land of news reporting.

I must admit however, that one cannot avoid to acknowledge that there are the rare journalists today who will manipulate information presented to them, thus causing you to have no control over whether your intended message is broadcasted to its target public. However, if they follow the MEAA code of ethics like they should, this will not happen.
On the other hand, they may simply choose to disregard your media releases and use information provided to them through your media kit to gain their own perspective on the issue presented. So there is the possibility that Journalists can also influence information that is being presented to a certain extent.

Although I found the reading "Oral Presentations," (Drew, 2001)
interesting, I already had an idea about most of the tips it gives so I found it a bit useless. Out of all the hints, I personally found the tips it gave to handle nerves the most helpful. Some of these included: being well prepared and organised, using visual aids (the audience looks at the visual aid, not at you), having good speaker's notes and rehearsing in advance. (Drew, 2001).

"Speaking as Part of a Group," (Van Emden & Becker, 2004) however, was very useful in preparing for my presentation next week. It effectively outlines pros and cons to speaking in groups while also providing tips to ensure your presentation is a success. The key points to remember from this reading were: to ensure group work is planned and carried out cooperatively. I also think it is vital to remember that when starting your presentation, ensure you have an attention grabbing introduction!

Therefore, I have learnt alot this week that will help me greatly in preparing for my presentation.

This week I commented Michelle Hogan's blog and replied to a comment from Lauretta Parker about my blog.
References:
Drew, S. (2001). Oral presentations. In The student skills suide. (2nd ed.)(pp. 98-114). London: Gower.
Johnston, J. (2004). Media relations. In Johnston, J., & Zawawi, C. (Eds.), Public relations: Theory and practice.(2nd ed.)(pp.259-287). Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
Macnamara(1998). Tainted information. In Choice (July, 1998).(pp. 26-31).
Marshall, I., & Kingsbury, D. (1996). Media realities. Melbourne: Longman.
Van Emden, J., & Becker, L. (2004). Speaking as part of a group. In Presentation skills for students. (pp. 77-93). New York: Palgrave Macmillan