Mediating the media: a journalist‐centric media relations model

The prevailing challenge faced by practitioners is to conduct effective media relations, especially with the proliferation of diverse media platforms both online and offline. For such a predominant and critical function, a systematic approach needs to be offered. This paper aims to address these issues.

A new model is developed, drawing on insights from corporate communications and journalism literature.

This model identifies two sets of influences that practitioners should seek to understand. The internal influences include journalist mindsets, journalist routines, and newsroom routines. The external influences include extra‐media forces and media ideology.

At this juncture, it is not able to predict causalities among the influences. What this model is able to establish is the connections among the influences. Future research can address that.

This model is instructive for new practitioners to view media relations as a holistic process rather than merely an information subsidy function. For seasoned practitioners, it serves to encourage them to re‐evaluate their current strategies and to engage in strategic thinking on how to transform their current practices.

The author has developed a new model called mediating the media that is meant to equip practitioners to conduct media relations in a systematic manner with the primary objective of winning the journalists over by the knowledge of their work and their profession. This may form the basis for an initial trail that takes media relations to the next level.