Time to hand over the reins of the Bristol Editor blog to Simon Clarke, author of the superb Freelance Unbound site, to discuss social media, journalism and more.

Over to you Simon!

Like all the best affairs, PR and journalism has had a bit of a tempestuous relationship.

Lazy journalists take carefully prepared media releases, hack them to bits, lose all the important material, add ridiculous headlines, and then demand high-resolution photos with 30 minutes notice.

And sometimes, don’t even publish it.

Or, from another angle, time-pressed journalists take puff-laden rubbish from overpaid PRs, try to draw a real story out of a mass of client hype, attempt to hook the reader’s interest with an interesting headline, and find themselves on deadline asking for pictures the PR should have supplied in the first place.

And then get spiked, because someone’s come up with some real news at the last minute.

Then along came the explosion of social media. Suddenly, PRs could do their job without having to sweet-talk grumpy old hacks.

Brand communications was a whole new world of freedom and excitement.

But things are never as simple as that. Social media has transformed readers’ relationship with media content, and with brands. Readers are no longer just “readers” – they are active participants in conversation, and expect to be treated as equals.

Disgruntled readers can throw a spanner in the works of a carefully cultivated brand image in a heartbeat – just ask Kwik Fit.

What’s the answer?

Journalists are tiresome for a reason. We demand more from media releases than puff – we want a compelling story, and a reason for readers to care. We want to strip away the hype and the flannel, and to publish something that matters to someone other than ‘the brand’.

In the age of social media, those qualities are more valuable than ever.

Rather than seeing platforms such as Twitter and Facebook as a good excuse never to have to deal with journalists again, PR needs to embrace journalism’s skills – to tell compelling stories, without puff and hype, via those social platforms.

PR must make sure its own content passes the trust test.

How? Make sure you still work with editors and writers from the other side of the fence.

If you’d like to Guest Blog for Bristol Editor – and also put yourself in front of 1,000′s of creatives, marketing agencies, PRs, editors, copywriters and digital bods, get in touch here today. And, yes, terms and conditions do apply.