Finding inner resources when working non-stop and building a quality communications strategy as a tool to convey information and establish a reliable network of contacts for media workers were discussed at the National Press Club during the media lunch “How to replace professional burnout with prospering, be successful and find sources of support”.
Maryna Tomko, communications expert, and Adrian Karmazyn, chief of the Ukrainian Service of the Voice of America (2005-2015), shared their experience with the students of journalism.
The event started out by discussing the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation signed between the Prosecutor General’s Office and the media and human rights NGOs. The document aims at consolidating efforts to guarantee freedoms and security to journalists.
In Maryna Tomko’s opinion, the effective work of state and corporate communications services is one of the key factors in the country’s resilience as well as an important tool to make journalists’ work of standing up for the public interest successful.
The two functions of communication are servicing and management, noted Maryna Tomko. Management includes a change in the attitude of the audience toward events, or its behavior, while servicing is after the fact.
When we’re talking values, we shouldn’t fear being inconvenient to the maximum since journalists are that very trigger that makes the authorities or corporations tell the truth and create change. In this dimension, there’s no greater value for journalists than their reputation, noted the expert.
Adrian Karmazyn agreed that joint productive work of communications specialists and journalists in the name of public interest, at the base of which are values and standards, is of importance in many established democracies.
In the USA, journalists value a great deal the work of press secretaries. For instance, when the president’s speaker prepares seriously for a press conference, she/he contacts various bodies for information to provide a comprehensive picture. And the joint work of communications experts and journalists helps cover specific issues, stressed Mr. Karmazyn.
Maryna Tomko also thinks that a daily analysis of the content broadcast in the information space and successful use of tools for interacting with the audience is essential for the quality work of editors today. Specifically, the authorities often make use of modern communications tools to “sell” dreams of the future because the emotion of hope or dream is understood to be stronger than the emotion of fear.
Moreover, to establish trust-based relations between the heads of communications services and the audience, the expert advised that in crisis situations, valuable time should not be wasted on finding excuses but that the services should be first to provide comprehensive information.
During the media lunch, it was also said that a balanced inner condition is a powerful additional resource. To avoid burnout, it is important to look at your job with a lively interest, and as an opportunity to do an important job, establishing new, quality contacts. With an ongoing challenge in their work, it is important that journalists find sources of support with newsroom teams, among their colleagues and journalist associations.
The event was organized by Souspilnist Foundation with the help of the National Press Club Ukraine and the Independent Media Council.
