When camping trips and summer vacations are over, the kids are back in
school and farmers are too busy harvesting to talk with us, Western
Producer editorial department staffers gather for a meeting.
The format is a little different each year but the general theme is the
same: how we plan to maintain and improve this newspaper’s quality for
the benefit of our readers.
Sometimes we invite guests to help us strategize or provide different
perspectives on how and why we do the things we do.
Read Also
Producers face the reality of shifting grain price expectations
Significant price shifts have occurred in various grains as compared to what was expected at the beginning of the calendar year. Crop insurance prices can be used as a base for the changes.
Last week, one of those guests was William Wray Carney, who this year
published a book called In The News: The Practice of Media Relations in
Canada.
Carney is a former journalist who has worked in various aspects of
communications for more than 20 years. His book is packed with
information on approaching the media, developing and maintaining a
relationship with it, handling interviews, analyzing the success of
message delivery, lodging complaints and a whole lot more in between.
The book may not be of consuming interest to the average prairie farmer
or rancher whose primary contact with the press consists of reading
this newspaper once a week.
But it might be of great interest to members of agricultural groups,
clubs and associations, commodity organizations, those involved at any
level of government, and just about anyone who wants to get a message
out or who is likely to come in contact with media for reasons good or
bad.
This book will likely answer some questions for the above-noted
multitude; things like how or why stories are selected, why credible
sources are crucial, why attempts at media “spin” should be avoided,
and the nature of the relationship between public relations and the
media.
The general assumption among media types is that more is better, in the
sense that more information allows people to fully understand
situations and then form their own opinions. But media is definitely
better at looking outward, reporting upon news events of all kinds,
than it is at looking inward and explaining its own actions to the
public.
Maybe that’s because the media don’t think the public is interested.
Carney’s book helps explain the rationale behind media methods, as well
as the rationale people might adopt in getting their messages out
through the media.
For information on obtaining a copy, go to www.producer.com and click
on news links.
![Protesters crowd a street carrying signs that read, "Global warming real. In other news, water is wet," and "Stop denying the [blue painted pic of the Earth] is dying."](https://static.producer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/29145152/158171_web1_2019-10-18T222818Z_1221762151_RC14C26A65A0_RTRMADP_3_CLIMATE-CHANGE-THUNBERG-1200-220x165.jpg)
