Traditional News: The Engine That (Still) Drives Media Monitoring?

July 25, 2012 Chad Bolender 1 Comment

Over at commpro.biz, Todd Murphy, the Vice President of Universal Information Services explores how PR professionals should view the role of traditional news in the current media monitoring landscape dominated by Twitter and Facebook.

The main takeaway is that even if traditional print and online news don’t have the buzz, you ignore them at your own peril.

Recently, changes within the news monitoring industry have prompted some to question the value of the individual mediums [sic] that news tracking services monitor. [Only] a couple of us [are] now tracking all media and providing true measurement of those results…

Social media are where stories break and people discuss the news, but these discussions are typically anchored around traditional news content. Keep this in mind when determining priorities for media monitoring.

…the evolving landscape of all news media has changed the way news monitoring services track your news. However, this causality isn’t because one medium is less valuable, but rather our change in monitoring and measurement has been precipitated by an equal shift in how PR professionals and communicators should be earning their media exposure. Think in terms of just “media”, instead of mainstream vs. new media.

Looking at the engagement in spheres of social media without also monitoring the news is to have a large blind spot in your Public Relations vision.

With the exception of a few dozen online sources and blogs, mainstream media is still driving the public relations train. Perhaps, though, it is better for more people to realize that we’re no longer riding a train. We’re cruising at light speed. Monitoring where a story first pops in the mainstream media, and then mapping the engagement of that story as it resonates through newer mediums [sic], is now the standard for public relations.

It is worth the time to read it all.

Tell us in the comments if you agree or disagree that social media complements, rather than supplants, traditional news?

Filed under: media monitoring