HOW TRUMP HAS UPENDED MEDIA POLICY
Instead of telling the truth, Trump lies with shameless abandon. Instead of courting the electorate, he insults large chunks of it. And instead of currying favour with the press, he wages war on it. Our MD Gareth Harding on how Trump has broken almost every media relations rule and what this means for communication and PR professionals.
Donald Trump has been in office just over a month but has already broken almost every rule in the press relations playbook used by communication advisers, media trainers and PR gurus for decades.
Instead of telling the truth, Trump has lied with such shameless abandon that a whole new lexicon has had to be invented to describe the parallel universe the president lives in. Post-truth has elevated baloney to the level of the possible, alternative facts are wheeled out to disprove demonstrable evidence and fake news is used as an insult against anyone who dares question the president’s policies.
Journalists and media professionals are increasingly turning to social media to publish and promote their work, yet more than half say it has affected their productivity and is undermining traditional journalistic values. These are some of the key findings from Cision’s Global Social Journalism Study 2016, which explores the ways social media affects how journalists and media professionals work and how they communicate with PR professionals.
Most of those surveyed believe social media has ‘fundamentally changed their role as journalists and enables them to be more engaged with their audiences’. Over half of respondents in France and Canada and 48% in the US say they cannot conduct their work without social media, yet the majority of those surveyed don’t agree that social media has made them more productive at work.
Isabelle Leonard is a passionate public relations practitioner whose career has spanned two continents. Specialising in crisis communication, the highlight of Isabelle’s career came in 2006 when she won the European Sabre award. Commonly known as the Oscars of Communication, Isabelle beat four other competitors for the honour. In the past, Isabelle has worked for organisations such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York where she worked on making films for temporary exhibits. One year later she moved back to Brussels and began working for Interel, where she was a senior consultant for international clients. Today, Isabelle owns her own communication firm, Art & Facts, combining her love for public relations with her love of art. Isabelle’s next project will be to move into documentary making – in between giving clients advice on how to construct PR plans of course.