Gatekeeper recruits gatekeeper

Hans Kullin (Media Culpa) has a fascinating post on what was, for me, a rather unexpected twist in the changing relationship between PR and news operations. Apparently Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter

has signed an agreement with Newsdesk where the paper is paying Newsdesk to "manage all distribution of press information to Dagens Nyheter's all news desks, editors and reporters". Metro has signed a similar agreement, according to Resumé.

- We will sort the material in a relevant way for DN, says Kristofer Björkman at Newsdesk.

In a sales letter from DN and Newsdesk, press contacts are asked to send all press releases to a central email address at Newsdesk, but Newsdesk clarifies in an interview that it is still an acceptable procedure to send press releases directly to journalists.

Like Hans, I, too, can understand that individual journalists might need help in filtering the flood of emails that are being sent to them (my University of Sunderland colleague Chris Rushton's research is bringing this into sharp focus), but I share his doubts as to whether this is the way forward.

Hans goes on:

"Press releases rarely get picked up by journalists you have absolutely no relation to. What will happen is that PR practitioners will add the central address to their mailing lists and still continue to send press releases to their regular journalist contacts. PR people don't want another layer between themselves and their audience... I prefer to look in the opposite direction by experimenting with a direct dialogue with the target audience as a complement, via blogs and RSS for corporate information.

Turning this on its head, I am intrigued by the notion of a newspaper allowing an outside organisation to determine what is newsworthy. Perhaps something is being lost in translation, but this is certainly a development to watch...

Comments

[Tintin]

I had kind of hoped you knew that I am not only the world's truly favourite Belgian, but also one of the journalists used in fiction that should be playing a lead role on 'Scoop! Journalists In Fiction'. Looking forward to that and congrats on the new blog!

[Philip Young]

Any suggestions of Belgian novels that feature journalists gratefully accepted on Scoop! I have been collecting references from Georges Simenon, another reporter turned writer, but don't know of any contemporary Belgian novels that have been translated into English.

[Serge Cornelus]

Simenon, of course. Excellent choice. Highly underrated - one of Belgium's best if you ask me. We were required to read a couple of Simenon novels in secondary school and where most of my colleagues gave up, I just kept on going. I have hardly read all his work (he was after all wat in Dutch is called a 'veelschrijver' ('muchwriter' if you translate it too literally)), but I did manage to read most of his Maigret work ('Le pendu du St-Pholien' being my all-time favourite). I am, however, not really familiar with his other work, but perhaps this is a reason for me to start digging up some of it. In the meantime, I'll try to keep an eye out for Belgian novels concerning journalists but I am not going to make any promises. After all, I hardly find time nowadays to keep up with my 'professional' reading. Perhaps I should quit this blogging business ;-). Oh btw, if you ever get to Liège, you must do the Simenon walk: it takes you through some lovely hidden corners of the old town and, of course, to the places where Simenon lived and worked before he moved to Paris, Holland,...