This week Rupert Murdoch dismissed suggestions that the internet will kill off newspapers.
He went as far as to say that the newspaper doomsayers were “misguided cynics”.
Explaining matters futher, he said that while some printed newspapers will see their circulation figures decline, there were good opportunities in using websites and emails to deliver people with customised news.
For us, Mr Murdoch’s most important comment was his observation that:
“Our real business isn’t printing on dead trees. It’s giving our readers great journalism..”
And that’s great news for all PRs. In fact, we have a critical role to play.
By developing powerful ideas we have the potential to give journalists stories that transcend individual media channels. Stories that won’t get stuck on an obscure website or an unknown radio show. Stories that will spread because, as Malcolm Gladwell says, they will have ‘the stickiness factor’.
Good publicists, more than ever before, will have the opportunity to develop memorable stories that will be written about, talked about, blogged about and, most importantly, shared.
We can all get hung up on the death of newspapers, the rise of the web, etc. etc.
But at the end of the day, we must never lose sight of the simple fact that “it’s the story, stupid!” and that’s something we can all take advantage of.
