Media relations and publicity work are essential ingredients of public relations practice. In recent years the whole framework for media relations work has changed based on the growth and multiple uses of the Internet, global communication demands, and proliferating communication channels. The mass media offer an economical method for communicating with large and dispersed stakeholders while the specialized press and online newsrooms are more useful in reaching more narrowly defined audience segments and stakeholders, including customers, investors, employees, the business press, and so on.

The relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners is a difficult one. If practitioners understand the media and the reporter's role, however, positive relationships can be developed that are beneficial to all.

Specific techniques for communicating with the media include publicity releases, news kits, news conferences, video releases, and news posted to webpages. All of these approaches must be used judiciously—for publicity may backfire. Inappropriate publicity efforts can injure the relations that have been built over time with the media and the public. Electronic media have become especially important in the 1990s with VNRs, electronic media kits, satellite press conferences, and satellite media tours leading the way. Public service announcements provide a means for nonprofits to communicate through radio and television.

To learn more about media relations, watch the interview with Mark Shannon, Clips #4 and 7, on the book's CD-ROM.