Highlights
We within the justice system are getting more exposure with our press releases and digital media than ever before from emerging national online news sources.
This means new powers and enhanced responsibilities. We need to understand what’s happening and why.
By digital media or proactive efforts, I mean press releases, podcasts, audio, video, radio, and television shows that you create and offer via the Internet.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention and Crime Statistics for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public Affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former police officer. Retired federal senior spokesperson.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Produced successful state anti-crime media campaigns.
Thirty-five years of directing award-winning (50+) public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often with a focus on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcasting series. Produced a unique and emulated style of government proactive public relations.
Certificate of Advanced Study-The Johns Hopkins University.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
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Article
I’m not sure that everyone in the police and justice communities understands what’s going on within the local and national media landscape. Media outlets throughout the country are being slammed with revenue losses. Thousands of reporters and support personnel are either losing their jobs or are being asked to do more.
Google search is transitioning to AI and new algorithms, and websites are taking a huge hit. Artificial intelligence is beginning to offer answers rather than links to news sites.
The Washington Post has lost 50 percent of its audience. They are losing tens of millions of dollars. The news media landscape is changing dramatically with new forms of digital media taking its place.
What’s Changing
There are now national digital media sources using artificial intelligence to scrape news content from sources and offer them throughout their platforms.
“None of the AI writers seems to have a specific beat, except possibly for what can be best described as “police exploits,” which they all cover with gusto. Hoodline’s sites are filled with stories about both arrests and police PR events, which makes me think Hoodline’s AI tools are leaning heavily on the press releases of local police departments.”
I live in two parts of the country, and it’s obvious that local media are simply running press releases from law enforcement and justice agencies as their primary content source.
Your police or criminal justice press release from Pittsburg is now ending in Boston and markets throughout the country. National news outlets are using some of this material. This concept is in its infancy but it could expand rapidly.
What This Means For You?
After 35 years of directing media relations for national and state criminal justice agencies, it means that you have to expect a much wider audience than you are used to. This could have implications for your agency; something intended for your local or state market might get a larger audience than you intended.
Stories about crime and justice have relevance. With fear of crime at record levels per Gallup, what happens locally may be of interest to other areas of the county.
It also means that your proactive media efforts could have more power. The days of the experienced and savvy crime reporter are just about over. More than ever, your press releases are falling into the hands of general assignment reporters who will simply run what you say without further clarification or fact-checking.
I traveled the country after creating successful justice-related television and radio shows and podcasts teaching others how to do the same. I preached that agencies now have almost unlimited power to bypass mainstream media sources to get your message out. There are now sheriff departments that are putting out a steady stream of digital products (i.e., podcasts, video, audio) that are part entertainment and part news.
In my teaching efforts, I preached that we are responsible for balance and accuracy and presenting both sides of a story. If we are now the sole source of how a story is being covered, we have ethical and practical obligations. There are still reporters at the national and local levels who are capable of seeing obvious falsehoods or inconsistencies in your products that may challenge your assertions thus a commitment to accuracy is in the public’s (and your) best interest.
Conclusions
Polls indicate a high degree of trust in law enforcement, regardless of demographics. That’s not the case for the media although local news outlets still have more confidence than their national counterparts.
There are emerging national and regional news outlets that will carry your content without you knowing it. How long they last and how many they become will change. It’s a new digital media world with real implications as to how we communicate.
You need to understand that there are plenty of lesser-known national media sources addressing crime issues. You do not want to be on their radar if you are creating proactive media with inaccuracies or blatantly one-sided content. Good, experienced reporters still exist who can (and will) challenge your efforts. I say this despite some sheriffs aggressively offering their digital media who don’t seem to care that they are challenged.
They “will” care if something meant to be promoted becomes a negative national story.
But law enforcement and justice agencies have a new power to communicate if it’s used responsibly. Just understand that whatever you create needs to be looked at through a new lens. You may create a press release or podcast that fairly conveys information but gets a wider audience (including advocates) who may challenge your assertions.
It’s in your best interest to apply journalistic ethics to make sure you got the story right. This mandates a new breed of media relations or public affairs officers who understand that the news landscape is changing and that their proactive media needs to be held to a higher standard.
I once went to an agency head who provided me with misinformation on a breaking story and although it didn’t sound quite right, I assumed that he knew what he was talking about so I went with his assertions. They turned out to be false. He resigned. The story became profoundly negative.
Justice media relations people need to have the ability to push back when necessary to make sure they have the correct facts fairly presented. If they do, they now have more power than ever before to get their message out and influence public opinion.
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