Political Prophecy: A 2008 Slam-Dunk for Blogs

Public Relations Quarterly, 2008 by Pedersen, Wes

Don't diss the role of the press; it's doing that itself

Despite massive efforts to bury them deep, newspapers are not yet ready to write their own obituaries. They're doing their damndest to stay alive, even as the Rupert Murdochs of the journalist world seek to buy and change the most famous and most powerful dynastic names in the business.

This, though, is irrefutable: The era of the all-knowing, all-powerful daily journals is over.

The fabled audiences of which the big city papers once could boast are down to hard-scrabble; so is morale in every paper that still has a tad of clout left.

With print ad income generally flat, papers around the U.S. have been letting veteran staffers go. It's gotten so bad, says one media critic, that old hands remaining in city rooms are telling fresh-faced recruits from journalism school to forget it and go to law school.

The press is famously seeking alternatives to itself; big-name papers have for the past three years been pushing their blogs with shameless fervor (check out the Washington Post's whopping list). Meanwhile, the hunt is on for a device inspired perhaps by a combination of iPod and wee TV that can serve as The Future's MNO - Master News Outlet.

The unthinkable occurred in September 2005 when Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, announced steep editorial job cuts, and confessed that the economic job pressures on the news business had been so "unrelenting" over the years that no relief was in sight. What he did not admit was that the Times was relying, as press observer Steve Outing has put it, on the strength of its columnists to carry it through the rough times to come.

But columnists are opinion mongers, not hard-fact news reporters, and the sad truth is that the world has an over-supply of here's-my-opinion sources these days. They are the bloggers who have proved to be not simply commentators but, in some cases, genuine political powerhouses. Matt Drudge, an object of journalist ridicule until he broke the Clinton-Lewinsky story, is a mighty example. Ditto Ariana Huffington, whose Huffington Post, is a must-read for many after just two years in operation. And there's the heralded newcomer, The Politico, which is first-of-the-day reading for many in capitals around the country.

Once papers like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times were stalwarts whose opinions could make or break political candidates at will, or, on a slow news week, possibly foment a far-off war. Today that's a job for blogs. As Tina Brown, using the New York Times as an example, wrote in a Washington Post column about the declining state of print journalism: "The Gulliver of West 43rd Street...now preemptively lies down, affixes bonds to its wrists and ankles, and invites the Lilliputians of cyberspace to walk all over it."

The message to those in public relations who live by the word is clear: Get with the future; it's here now. Cyberspace journalism offers vast opportunities for the innovative public relations practitioner. But you've got to be choosey. And you can't just put your money where others' mouths are. There's room for you, too. Lots of room, whether you're in politics or, well, whatever.

Citizen Kane typified the heyday of raucous, rampaging newsdom. The Grey Lady typified the discreet journalism that j-school profs touted for so long. Radio and TV remain the preferred outlets for many on the outside trying to get a word in. But watch the power demonstrated by blogs this year and next, as our wouldbe presidents, their rivals and a host of lesser politicos vie for power in the make-or-break-reputation world of cyberspace.

Meanwhile, say a prayer for the famous-name newspapers you've used in so many PR campaigns in the past. They're still important if only for the old-line seal of approval they seem to affix your messages. They're still the class act of promotion for many issues. But if you're talking politics, you've got to focus on blogs these days. General use headline, November 5, 2008: Winning candidates say blogs gave them the winning edge.

Wes Pedersen is principal, Wes Pedersen Communications and Public Relations, Chevy Chase, MD. He is a former director of communications and public relations for the Washington-based Public Affairs Council. Earlier, he was a State Department and U.S. Information Agency executive specializing in combating other-side propaganda while extolling America to audiences abroad. He was a founder and the second president of the National Association of government Communicators. He was inducted into PRSA's Counselor's Academy in 1979, and in 1989 was named "The Great Association Communicator" by Association Trends magazine. He has won nearly 400 awards from in journalism, public government affairs and business. He was inducted into PFtSA Washington's Hall of Fame in 2005.