December 4, 2009 at 10:52 AM by Cone

As I worked out at my gym the other day, keeping an eye on the bank of 12 TVs set to different channels, I was a bit taken by what I observed. Were the various stations reporting on the massacre of four police officers in Washington? Sure, a little bit. Was there coverage of retail spending leading up to the holidays, including the critical Black Friday and Cyber Monday milestones? Yes, in small doses. How about the military build-up in Afghanistan? There was a mention or two. But none of these stories were the main focus.

You’re thinking it must be something big, really big, right? Well, no, not really. The story dominating those TV sets was this: Tiger Woods won’t talk to the Florida Highway Patrol and he’s skipping his charity golf tournament this week. Really? Is that really important news – so important that stations were rolling out every analyst and expert they could find to talk about legal implications, image implications, relationship implications?

 

Keep in mind, this is a story that involves a single-car accident with minor injuries and no damage to or crime against other parties – unless you count that poor fire hydrant and tree. Granted, Tiger is one of the most famous people in the world. And, if as first reported, he was seriously injured, this is a pretty big story with some legs. Not to mention this story probably would have gone away by now if Tiger had done what most PR professionals would have counseled: get out in front of the story and address what happened. He didn’t, and we’ve become a celebrity and gossip-obsessed culture. The media believe this is what we want to see. So the story dominates the news.

 

The bottom line is that a story with very little news value or impact on our society is stealing the spotlight from big stories – stories that shed light on real issues, stories that impact us and people we know, stories that people need to hear.

What does this mean for PR practitioners and the clients we represent? Well, it just reinforces the importance of going to the media with something of value to them and their audience. We need to make news. A promotional, look-at-me sales pitch will rarely cut it, especially when we’re competing against the likes of Tiger.

Shouldn’t we expect more? Don’t we deserve more? I say we do. I want to see and read about the news that really matters.

-- Marc Berliner, Director

Tags: PR mediarelations media celebrity

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