The media relations work was born in the early 20th century with the work of Ivy Lee. He was a dedicated journalist who signed with the millionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr to improve his image and the image of his companies, which at that time had several reputation problems with different stakeholders.
This story is known by many people and since then many things have changed, especially with the arrival of the internet. But how was the day-to-day of media relations offices before the popularization of the Internet, email and even social networks?
Imagine a time when there were no computers, so everything was done on a typewriter. Some newer media relations offices already had telex and sent their press releases from this device. A great friend of mine, Dinho Leme, once told me that in his office he used to have this technology. With some of these machines running at full steam it was possible to send the same press release for up to 10 newsrooms almost simultaneously. Something unimaginable at that time and quite obsolete for nowadays.
Sending a press release, which is something used even too much by press secretaries these days, used to be done in a printed format, typed and often mimeographed and sent one by one to newsrooms by office boys of the companies. During this period, around the 80’s, media relations offices still had a bad reputation with journalists. Even today there are those who consider this work as something of a ‘subprofissional’.
This way, the work to achieve a good publication in distant states was done only by telephone. So close your eyes and imagine a newsroom with hundreds of typewriters running at the same time, dozens of phones ringing, important assignments to be concluded and cigarette smell in the air (yes, it was very common for people to smoke inside the editorial offices and closed environments).
With the advent of the internet, many things have changed, for better and for worse. The bright side was the fast communication between journalists, press secretaries, and their clients. You can make an exclusive interview by email, or by videoconference; send photos that the journalist needs, send a great story idea and even send clarification practically in real time.
However, the downside is undoubtedly the volume of material that journalists receive. It’s impressive. Therefore, a good story sent by email may get lost in their inbox and never be published. There is also the number of media relations offices that have grown exponentially.
But the work of media relations basically has not changed. Since its beginning has the function to bring relevant information that can actually be useful to the population and therefore, helping journalists with a more complete material, and also helping clients to have their information published in the press.