SCHWARTZ CROSSROADS

Has the Approach to PR Success with the Wires Changed?

I've been trying, pretty much in vain, to make my salads from our building's cafeteria taste like something. My latest strategy is putting so many jalapenos and Tabasco sauce on that I can't actually taste anything at all. Thank you, Altoids! And thank you, Google Reader, for bringing me updates to my many blog subscriptions so that lunchtime is always full of new ideas, if not flavor.

One of today's posts from paidContent talks about a broad reorganization of editorial responsibilities at Thomson Reuters, which of course runs Reuters. It says:

"As the internet has changed the game for how news is accessed and distributed, Reuters and its rivals, Bloomberg and Dow Jones, have been working for the past few years to streamline and refocus their respective operations to take better advantage of multimedia and attract a broader business audience.

"[The new editor in chief]'s move from the professional division a year after arriving at Reuters--following his departure as BusinessWeek's EIC as it was in the process of being sold to Bloomberg--has compressed those efforts as he's put his stamp on the newsroom quickly.

"For example, earlier this month, Chrystia Freeland was put in charge of the company's interactive efforts in the newly-created post of editor of Thomson Reuters Digital."

If you read other articles about recent changes at Reuters, you'll see that they and the other wire services are adjusting the way they operate in order to take into account things like the consumption of news on mobile devices (smartphones and iPad-like readers). That's a change in the way information is presented. Is the type of information they're working with also changing? I see, in yet another article, that Reuters is trying to offer more consumer content to supplement its business information.

That got me thinking about the wires in general. Wire stores are an integral part of much of Schwartz's work because one article about a medical therapy, an IT security breach or trends affecting an industry at large can be syndicated in dozens or hundreds of other outlets. While going direct to people using social media is important, it shouldn't come at the cost of also going broad (or high, if you like) to potentially reach millions of readers or viewers in national and local media, which tend to pick up wire stories.

As Reuters changes and looks to incorporate more video and stories that will appeal to people using all those mobile devices, it seems smart to revisit your approach to working with the wires and to ask yourself whether your content is likely to pass muster by outlets that want to stretch beyond straight business news. Not as a replacement for more precise messages for other outlets, but as an important addition.

What do you think--is your communications program wire-ready?

The lettuce image is covered by a Creative Commons license. My salad, however unique, is not.

Posted by Laura Kempke on April 19, 2011 at 5:28 PM