Printed Reality (About Selling Journalists)

[Детективное агентство. Украина. Харьков. Львов.]

USA. 1929 year. The exchange bubble burst with a bang, the Great Depression began. Who blew the bubble? Journalists And not without compensation. Bribing the media was a common thing for stock traders - this was the conclusion of a congressional commission conducting an investigation into this matter. Russia. Our days. It is customary to talk about the corruption of journalists as a matter of course. What is the reality? On the one hand, I recall the experiment of Promaco agency, from the filing of which in 2001 12 central mass media published a paid publication under the guise of an editorial - thus the fact of the sale of Russian media was proved. On the other hand, there is another story - with the St. Petersburg public organization Delo, which special correspondent Panyushkin told about this spring. The PR agency, to which Delo requested a TV story about a rally against the high cost of AIDS drugs, said that it would cost $ 50,000. Panyushkin, talking to the head of Dela, called his friend on TV, and he he was told that such a story could be done for free, that is, the agency simply wanted to cash in on the client. So, do the media take money for publishing articles or publishing stories? Or are cunning PR agencies just using their acquaintances in a journalistic environment to “shod” customers who want to get into these media? The answer to both questions is yes - they are taken and used. Does this mean that they take everything and that it’s impossible to get into the media otherwise than for money today? Of course not, but the market for "orders", of course, exists. We’ll talk about him - without mentioning the names of the media for ethical reasons. Guaranteed placement Boris Yeremin, President of the Russian branch of the International Advertising Association, Editor-in-Chief of the Advisor magazine: Custom publications are not unique and unique to Russia. Back in the 20s of the last century, in the Western press appeared advertising messages provided to readers in the form of editorial material - the so-called advertorial. The modern advertorial, unlike the advertorial of those years, is usually marked in that quality. But, as a rule, the need for special notes is not defined by law, it is a matter of professional agreements between journalists. It’s just that the competition between the media is so high that the advertorial, which will be submitted as an editorial, will undermine the position of the publication on the market. We are still far from such self-regulation. Moreover, from the very beginning, the Law "On Advertising" pushed the press to take money for allegedly editorial materials. After all, under the definition of “advertising” one could bring anything, as a result, other departments of advertising regarded any mention in articles or programs as advertising - and this continues to this day. Igor Pisarsky, chairman of the board of directors of RIM Porter Novelli agency: What is PR, how does it differ from advertising and how does it all work - in the early 90s, neither the journalists nor the advertising agencies, nor customers. Customers wanted guaranteed articles in the media, and journalists wanted to earn something at least - and this phenomenon was formed. Alexander Shumsky, general director of the Artefact agency: Today it is almost impossible to meet a PR specialist who would consider posting articles or stories for money an effective tool. Firstly, it’s difficult to make custom-made material of high quality, material for money and will look like material for money, which will not meet the goals of the customer. Secondly, by paying for the material once, the customer, as a rule, is forced to pay always - even if the article or informational occasion that he initiates is objectively interesting. Leo Wilard, director of AMS Brand Concepts agency: Of course, it is best to interest a journalist for free, creating informational occasions or even a context in which the informational occasion then initiated will look the most advantageous. But here a lot depends on the customer, firstly, and on the media - secondly. Indeed, a lot. For example, it’s difficult to make a normal unpaid publication under time pressure - say, when a customer puzzled his PR agency late. Or the topic may be such that you can’t tell about it other than as “advertising rights”, but you don’t want to. Or the position of the media is such that you have to pay for everything. Semyon Khatskin, PR specialist: Once in the USA, I watched an American film crew shoot a story about a new pharmacy - even its address was given in close-up. There was still a Russian TV man, so his eyes went up on his forehead - is it really free? And we still have a few publications that will post really interesting news just like news, the rest have to pay. Shadow millions Practically all PR agencies can and do engage in the secretive placement of paid materials; customer desire is the law. However, not everyone risks declaring this directly. Some, however, are not shy, moreover, they use the fact of their involvement in such activities for their own PR. So, in 2001, a wave of publications about the "ordering" took place in the media, where Lobbynet agency was almost the only expert. It even "monitored" the media for the subject of "ordering" and estimated this market (print media) at the level of $ 20-25 million per year. Today, the largest players in this market, not shy of their specialization in covert placement, are the Fourth Power Agency and the Privy Counselor. Well, of course, there are also many private individuals who are engaged in "distribution" with no less success than large companies, confirming the thesis of Frank Jeffkins (author of a textbook on PR), which in PR, unlike advertising itself, does not have a size values - that is, a group of two or three people can work (and, as a rule, work) more efficiently than a large structure. Recently, with the change in the political situation in Russia, it has become customary to say that the heyday of the "ordering" is in the past. Oleg Matveychev, director of the Moscow representative office of Bakster Group: A significant part of the ordered materials was political and was directed to the electorate; Now, when governors are not elected but appointed, the electorate is of no interest to anyone. But, firstly, now there is a need for custom-made materials in federal-level publications on how everything is good and healthy in a particular region, and secondly, business "orders" are still relevant - there is demand. Sergey Strashnov, deputy general director of Promconsaltinvest: Corporate wars, battles for property do not disappear. And with such a level of corruption at all levels, it is foolish to hope that the press will be white and fluffy. Oleg Tekhmenev, general director of the Lobbynet agency: The market for custom publications has become much tougher and more centralized. To publish even for money, you need to try very hard, however, prices are rising, that is, any restrictions lead to an increase in the market - there is demand. I would estimate the current volume of “orders” in the print media somewhere at $ 30-35 million. On TV - at $ 15-20 million, and this despite the fact that it’s really impossible to get there for free. It’s just that there’s nowhere to get too much - the transmission grid on federal channels is made so that the order is economic or political, it doesn’t matter — there’s simply nowhere to put, unless selling places of experts in talk shows and analytical programs. This is $ 50-70 thousand, but there is no significant demand here. Many experts have data on TV - $ 15-20 million - are in doubt; they say there are much more "orders" there. Valery Pavlov, correspondent for Money: I worked in Krasnodar for a long time and I know for sure that millions are spent annually on the promotion of holidays in the region. It's not about commercials. If you look at the federal news, you can see that the weather is always excellent in the Krasnodar Territory, and in the Crimea there are always some natural disasters, every little thing is inflated to a universal scale - of course, they pay for it. Strictly according to the price list Despite the tightening of the editorial policy in most media, you can still post paid materials under the guise of editorial - if they are not very “dumb”, as they say, then you can always agree. Especially when there is a price list for such a service in publications. As a rule, it is tied to the usual advertising rates - if the material is positive, for the publication that is not designated as advertising, they can take two prices of the corresponding advertising space; for negative - two to three times more. But the negative will be published only if there are supporting documents - these are minutes of shareholders meetings, extracts from registers and other documents that can be covered in case of a lawsuit. Thus, the prices are different, but to place a sufficiently large (for example 1/4 of the A3 strip) article for $ 4-8 thousand is quite realistic. Alexander Krestnikov, general director of the Fourth Power group of companies: It makes sense to work directly with journalists or editors when it comes to first-tier publications - those where there is no automatic clipping of texts mentioning company names. Actually, this is our main service - to place a "price list", a lot of mind is not needed. Due to the fact that it became easy to publish engaged articles in editorial offices, the quality of PR materials decreased. And this today is the main problem of the Russian media PR market. Sometimes it is better to advise the client to "keep quiet" than to make excuses or attack opponents. The main thing in our craft is brains, a well-thought-out information policy, and not a simple placement of materials. Unfortunately, for 90% of PR specialists, the main task of the work is to master the budget. Few people puzzle over how to find an informer, a twist on a topic that can really interest the correspondent and his editors. Actually, here the services of a journalist or editor may not be paid for - if the PR man can get them carried away with their topic, convince them that it is interesting for the publication in itself. After all, the customer doesn’t care who his money came to. For him, the main thing is the result. Of course, there are possible options for deceiving the client (the story with the “Case”), but, as the “hosters” themselves say, this is rare. After all, this business is entirely built on relationships - once they doubt you, and there will never be orders again. Julia Stonogina, CEO of Insiders: The ethical level of business is increasing. Gone are the days when the PR agency showed the client an article that his competitor allegedly planned to post and offered to remove it, block it for a certain amount of money - of course, the PR agency itself wrote the article. Yes, and locks are used less often today, since the period of wild corporate wars is also in the past, then it was a popular tool. In addition, it’s quite difficult to block all resources, and today competitors often play with an open visor - they will write, and then I will write against them, and we'll see who is who.

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

Thank!

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]

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