Many people often tend to assume that public relations practices and media relations are one and the same. However, they are not completely the same. Media relations largely focuses on developing relationships with journalists, while public relations is not limited to the media itself. It extends its relationship to the general public.

But media relations and public relations practices are similar in many ways. Both the fields aim is to share information with the public. The information provided by both of them is to educate, bring awareness on events, news and update them on latest trends. PR practitioners are usually focused on a particular client. There are a lot of misconceptions that PR professionals are biased and mislead the public. The media is constantly in search of a new story every single day.

It is the responsibility of the PR practitioners to help the media in improving the type and quality of news. On a whole it is the responsibility of both the  media and public relations to work together in achieving success. ‘Fake news’ is something that spreads faster among the people. And these days due to the availability of social media to everyone it has become even more easier for the information to spread. So it is important for the public relations officers to provide honest and accurate information to the media. Providing the journalists with accurate information with proper research is very important. Also the journalists too must authenticate themselves with the information provided to them.

The amount of pressure involved for a PR practitioner is obvious as it is challenging and getting the right facts by tracing its events is definitely not an easy task. A PR agency always maintains a media list containing various newspapers, magazines, electronic, radio and online media.  Therefore when the occurrence of any event, specific media people can be contacted and press releases can be shared with them easily to get the coverage done.

PR professionals contact media for various occasions related to their client for:

• Launch of a new product/service
• Developing policies to communicate with the public
• Communications and marketing of brands
• Building a positive relationship between the organisation and the public
• Announcing awards for the company
• Knowing the public opinions and attitudes relating to various topics
• Company chiefs and celebrity visits
• Organisation sponsored events

Thus, it is necessary for both public relations and media to maintain healthy relationships for societal good will and positive outcomes.