Media Relations

We had a speaker that represents our college come to class and discuss media relations. She gave us some great pointers. The most important aspect of media relations is building a strong and truthful public image. First, there should be a select few (preferably 1 person) that relays messages with the media. Second, that person needs to become a truthful and reliable source so that newspapers and other media sources do not go digging around for information. Third, focus on the positive. If there is a negative story released, media relations should release a positive story, for example, community service stories.
If I can think of the worst public relations I think of Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise had branded himself, therefore he is an empire, and he is the product. When he first met Katie Holmes and told the world he was obsessed with her, he hurt his image. Now when people hear of Tom Cruise, they do not think, "Wow, he's a great actor". They think "Out of control, jumping on Oprahs couch". When he went on Oprah to spread the news of a new movie and uplift his image, he completely turned people the opposite direction of his initial reasoning. He is the prime example of hurting your public image http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5883772879840922003