Media monitoring

Media monitoring is a service for public relations ( PR ). It documents the presence of search terms or topics in a media sample that is as representative as possible. This allows communication goals to be controlled and changes in public opinion to be recognized in good time.

practice

In practice, the communications department of a company instructs a specialized company, the media observer , to document a certain keyword or topic in the mass media. A differentiation and often also a specialization according to print media, online media as well as radio and TV broadcasts has developed here. Documentation takes the form of clipping , the article or excerpt cut from the newspaper , in the case of audiovisual media as a contribution on music or VHS cassette. Recently, digital formats have become increasingly popular. It is also possible to deliver as running text or as a short version ( abstract ).

Media monitoring for the German federal government is carried out by the Federal Press Office (BPA). Every day the Chancellor's portfolio is made up of newspaper and magazine articles for the Chancellor , his press officer and other members of the government. TV and Internet messages are processed by the BPA's news center and sent to the recipient group via SMS .

Methods

The media observer traditionally conducts the research manually with the help of editors or electronically with the help of search queries in a full text. Due to the synergy effects, a media observer can work far more cost-effectively than an individual communications department or a PR agency . The number of media titles watched usually runs into the thousands.

The press review is possible as a product variant for clipping . Here, an overview of abstracts, on paper or digitally on the Internet / intranet, is prepared with the respective sources and placed in a meaningful way. This gives the client a quick daily overview, especially when it comes to extensive communication issues. An electronic press review is usually made available to all management. As an employee press review, it also fulfills internal communication tasks.

Clipping also serves as the basis for media resonance analysis. Here, the media presence is statistically processed according to quantitative and content-analytical criteria such as reach and positive or negative tendency of the reporting or a statistical link with topic areas.

history

The classic media watchers, which emerged as clipping services as early as the 19th century, have recently been facing increasing competition from the newspaper publishers themselves, who are trying to market their content through newly founded joint ventures. These joint ventures usually offer a full text search in extensive newspaper archives, which media observers cannot do for copyright reasons.

With the amendment of copyright law as part of EU harmonization, publishers are also claiming remuneration for the use of their articles. While the licensing for use with a high reproduction rate, as in the case of the electronic employee press review, is undisputed, the PR associations argue that the publishers can by no means make copyright claims on self-initiated articles. In addition, the remuneration in Germany is not collected by a collecting society , but by a joint venture company of publishers that is in direct competition.

In 1951 the World Association of Media Observers was founded.

Web links

literature

Manfred Piwinger, Victor Porak (Hrsg.): Communication Controlling: Quantifying communication and information and evaluating them financially . 1st edition. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 978-3-409-03419-7 .

Juliana Raupp, Jens Vogelsang: Media resonance analysis: an introduction to theory and practice . 1st edition. VS, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-16000-9 .