In a sign of how much, and how quickly, journalism is evolving, the Guardian has just launched a Digital Journalist Scheme.
The programme is looking for 40 candidates with experience in one area out of “video, audio, pictures, text, social or audience content”. The Guardian will then provide them with a full-time role that combines “hands-on newsroom experience” with content creator training across all of these formats to build multi-platform skills.
So, what does this mean for tech PRs?
For one, it’s an interesting idea for PR firms to take note of. Confronted with the challenge of training entry-level roles in the age of AI, using 20% of a worker’s time for dedicated training could offer a blueprint for building up skills for employees early into the profession, and even for those with more experience.
But focusing on tech PR, the move indicates the direction media continues to travel in, the range of avenues through which a story can be covered and presented by journalists. A greater number of journalists are becoming content creators in their own right. Theoretically, this could increase the variety of opportunities for PRs.
More ‘digital journalists’ could mean more boots on the ground ready to capture content on site. Instead of requiring a camera crew to record a TV segment, journalists can simply capture content on their phones for digital features and upload them themselves.
The BBC, for example, is having to reassess its programming/strategy, as funding falls and viewership increasingly moves online. In August, Matt Brittin, the BBC director general, floated the idea of converting the next edition of iPlayer into a site akin to YouTube, where creators can post content in line with its guidelines.
What these shifts provide is a moment for PRs to broaden their perspectives and awareness around where content can end up and what services they can provide, blending go-to PR processes with newer coverage types.
A good pitch is still a good pitch; it can just be covered in more ways. Understanding this can inform who you target or how you offer the news. It’s the same with writing. As well as opinion pieces, press releases and social media posts, PR writing could extend across formats, from short 30-second scripts for video content, to on-screen graphics, to more lengthy YouTube creations.
There’s also scope to experiment with storytelling. Releasing a report of survey findings, for instance, could be accompanied by a short-form video of a leader explaining its key points and what the results mean for the sector.
This digitisation of PR has happened for some time now. But it evolves quickly, and there’s a clear progression in where the tide is flowing, with platforms like YouTube and Substack offering opportunities for further (self-)promotion; and more personal connections to a brand’s/leader’s immediate audience.
Yet often, the need to adapt and incorporate new mediums also reaffirms the principles that have to be maintained, the fundamentals in PR that continue to hold strong. Mainstream media coverage provides a badge of reputability and access to audiences or business leads further afield, while online fatigue has made physical and analogue experiences, like events, more appealing.
A quality opinion piece published by a publication carries a different kind of weight to self-publication (while an effective and new strand of PR). As well as reaching a publication’s readership and social media audience it’s shared to, this coverage also adds to a brand’s online and AI search visibility, known as GEO or AEO – an example of the older meeting the newer.
Announcing her new role in a new Guardian team helping the publication to “become more visual, more digital and more experimental” in how they tell stories, assistant managing editor Nazia Parveen asks some pertinent questions in her LinkedIn post: “What do you think news organisations need to be doing differently over the next five years? What changes are you most excited about, and what should we be careful not to lose?”
The addition of the final question is something that can sometimes get lost. For all of the need to adapt and upskill in new formats, there’s also a need to preserve the core tenets that have transitioned through the various iterations of PR. Many things, like consistent messaging and incisive, well-thought-out opinions, traverse all of these digital mediums.
There might be a need to get better at video content or the ways stories can be disseminated online, but PR messaging can remain consistent throughout this. And as we’ve seen with AI’s impact on content, core human skills and creativity often become even more valuable.
What really arises in multimedia PR is a combination of adaptation and preservation.
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