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You are never talking TO media, you are always talking THROUGH media. They are a conduit to a shared stakeholder base. The challenge is to deliver your messages in a way that is saleable for media so that it gets broadcast from them to the stakeholders.

A sound media relationship is a sound business relationship not unlike any other vendor you may work with but carrying much higher stakes. There are three entities in this triangular relationship; your entity, media, and stakeholders.

Do not underestimate the power of so-called social media. Frankly, I hate that term. Traditional media no longer has a lock on messaging to your stakeholders. Almost anyone can do this and competent PR today takes advantage of the opportunity afforded. You can and should set up your own blogs, Facebook, My Space, Linked In, Twitter, etc., and not be held hostage or outcompeted by those that do.

You can now make product for media unlike any time in the past. Raw digital images and raw tape provided via FTP sites and by other mechanisms can and will be used by traditional media because many outlets can longer afford the expense of employing and assigning their own. The challenge? Your product for media must be within reason and as transparent as possible in order to advance the sound media relationship.

The media gets a bad rap for getting things wrong because WE GET THINGS WRONG. PR people can help — not by asking to review a story prior to publication, but reminding the reporter that their client is happy to get a follow-up call and do some fact-checking.

I can’t tell you how many times I have finished the interview and then can’t reach the source a few days later for the fact-checking stage. Often, I am up against deadline and the source simply won’t return the call. I am sure they’re thinking, “I did my part; the interview is finished. I don’t have time for this.”

I call back my sources to fact-check on 99 percent of my stories (the other 1 percent are generally the stories I’ve covered time and again with sources I’ve interviewed multiple times, etc.)

I have found that in 100 percent of the stories I fact-check, I have an error. Sometimes it’s a matter of semantics, but often it’s a major fact that I simply misunderstood in my notes or in the conversation.

Virtually everyone I’ve interviewed has told me I am the only reporter or one of very few who fact-check. I am told often that I’m the only writer who has gotten everything right. Not to say I always do — I still make way more mistakes than I’d like (I strive for a perfect score, but hey, I’m human). Having clients willing to participate in fact-checking should minimize errors.

Just please remind them that we are checking FACTS, not re-writing the article to suit them.

Managing expectations in any field is a challenge. Over-delivering while under-promising is the hallmark of a true professional.

It’s true that not everyone understands how to pitch the media and conversely how newsrooms work, but to suggest that one cannot exist without the other is frankly naive. The public creates the news, the media reports on it. It’s our job to deliver great stories. Cheer Charlotte.