The Executive Secretary of National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, has expressed concern over the under reporting of the culture sector, saying media relations remained very vital to the success of any organisation.
Ayakoroma made this known, while delivering a paper, titled, “The place of media relations in repositioning cultural agencies: Towards a practical approach,” at the 3-day NICO national media repositioning workshop, with the theme, “Developing media strategies for organizational growth in the culture sector.”
According to him, there was need to relate with media professionals in order to achieve maximum positive media exposure and support, stressing that media relations is the friendship an organisation creates, “with media houses to ensure intensive publicity of its programmes and activities and sustained goodwill with journalists, publishers and media organs.”
While maintaining that efforts must be made to reach out and establish a special, cordial, profitable relationship with journalists to enable the two parties constantly communicate, understand and support each other, Ayakoroma said stakeholders must also understand that their actions, inactions, views, attitudes or opinions had determinate effect on the realization of media goals, either positively or negatively.
His words: “This explains the need to relate specially with them in order to achieve maximum positive media exposure and support which is very essential. For us in NICO, we relate with the arts and culture writers to ensure that our organisational goals get adequate publicity to effectively explain our programmes and policies to the public, monitor the media constantly knowing the importance of their functions.”
“Ensure the organisation carries the media along, maintain regular formal and informal contacts with them and not only when programmes are happening that you remember there are people you need to relate to because people have to know what you are doing and for people to know what you are doing, you have to use all the media at your disposal,” he pointed out.
He further stressed that cultural agencies need to realize that their impact on the various publics depends largely on their media relations strategies and that if they do not relate with the media, then it would be unlikely for them to get positive media coverage.
Caleb Nor
Corporate Affairs Unit
NICO, Abuja