UNAIR NEWS – Public Relations of a university cannot be separated from journalism. Scientifically, theories on public relations are not much different from theories on mass media. So, from its root, their closeness is indispensable.
“Therefore, on any issues, how bad the effect to the university, Public Relations should never avoid journalists. As both of them are always close to each other,” said Anang Sujoko, public relations, a practitioner of Public Relations as a speaker in Public Relations and Public Communication Training held by Information and Public Relations Center (PIH) UNAIR in Batu, April 22-24 2016.
The alumnus of UNAIR said that in any conditions, Public Relations should be able to position themselves properly. Most importantly, prepare the correct material confirmation. After that, news produced by the media will be informative and on the right path. Public Relations must provide data or reliable, truthful, and based on truth.
“In the room of campus public relations should provide coffee for journalists. They should be ready if a journalist expects a conversation until late at night,” said Anang smiling.
Public Relations should be pro active in maintaining relationship with press. There are many ways to do it, such as psychologically, on journalists’ birthday, public relations can congratulate them. If necessary, prepare a present or simple gift. So they will think that people are paying attention.
On professional aspect, always prepare news coverage for the journalists. If necessary, give each an exclusive coverage so they will feel respected as friends.
Besides managing relations with external party, Public Relations should also be solid internally. In a public relations unit, there must be elements and human resources. They should be taken care of. Who should do it? The leader of the unit obviously. “There should be a leadership, here. A leader is a good listener. By listening to all staff complaints and finding the solutions to the problems, they can perform at max,” he said.
Not only in the internal of public relations, but communication with other units should also be better. Public relations should actively find solutions, connecting employees with the management as their scope of work is indeed very wide. (*)
Author: Rio F. Rachman
