THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

MEDIA AND COMMINICATION DEPARTMENT

NAME: KETSON CHISENGA

COURSE: PRA 2030

LECTURE: MADAM MILUPI

INSTITUTION: UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

COMPUTER NUMBER:2021453162

QUESTION: WE ARE DEALING WITH THE NEWS COVERAGE OVER

ADVERTISING, BRING ABOUT ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF

ADVERTISING AND NEWS COVERAGE IN TERMS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPERT?

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Abstract

The purpose of our essay is to explain the news coverage over advertising and also to state the

advantages and disadvantages, as well as finding out which one is better between advertising and

news coverage in the context of public relations, firstly who start by defining news and

advertising from different authors, and also to found out which one who be more effective to the

public relations expert.

What is News?

News is an unpublished account of human activity, which seeks to interest, inform, or

educate the readers. The first requirement of news is that a piece of writing should not have

been published anywhere before. It should come to the readers for the first time. It is like a hot

cake coming straight from the oven. Anything, which has come in print before, does not

constitute news. It may be anything but not news. The second ingredient is human activity.

News must relate in one way or the other to human activity. Human beings must be involved in

an event embodied in news. The Third important factor is that it should be of some interest to

the readers. The interest may be physical or emotional. The fourth important prerequisite is

that it should be designed to impart some sort of information to the readers.

1. According to Carrel Warren, “news is usually a report which is not known to laymen
before its presentation. This report deals with such activities of man as are a source of
interest, entertainment or information to the readers.
2. British Journal defines the news as, “any event, idea or opinion that is timely, that
interests or affects a large number of people in a community and that is capable of being
understood by them”.
3. According to William Stead, “Everything which is extraordinary and unusual is called
news “for example;

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  A guide to advanced techniques in journalism brought out by the Editorial Study Centre
of the

Thompson Foundations has enumerated 20 categories of what makes news. These are “Novelty,

Personal impact, Local news, Money, Crime, Sex, Conflict, Religion, Disaster and Tragedy.

 Humour, Human interest, the Under-dog, Mystery, Health, Science, Entertainment,

A few examples of what makes news are given below:

1. “Man bites dog”. (Novelty)

2. “Pay body recommends raise in pay of Federal Government employees”. (Personal

Impact)

3. “A motorcyclist was run over by a Niazi Bus Service near Anarkali, Lahore.”

(Local News).

4. “Prices of T.V., Refrigerator and Cigarettes raised in Federal Budget”. (Money)

5. “100 persons died in the air crash”. (Tragedy)

It is due to the fact that a journalist reports an incident in the same way as he sees it. Although it

is possible that a particular journalist gives a dramatic touch to an incident while the others do

not. But the original and genuine facts of the happenings are not to be changed at any rate.

Advertising

Therefore, according to the common man advertising means television commercials, radio
jingles and print advertisements.

Advertising can be defined as a paid dissemination of information through a variety of mass

a) According to the ‘concise oxford dictionary’ the verb, ‘to advertise means: to make
generally or publicly known.

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 b) Jeremy Bullmore defines advertising as ‘Advertising is any paid –for communication
c) intended to inform and /or influence one or more people’.

Here, the first element paid for distinguishes advertising from free publicity. The

second element communication indicates transmission of messages and the use of a

medium. The third element is intentional about advertisements being goal-oriented.

Fourthly, inform and/or influence indicates about the persuasive nature of advertising.

d) Prof. James E. Littlefield and Prof. C.A. Kirkpatrick in their book define advertising as
follows: ‘Advertising is mass communication of information intended to persuade buyers
so as to maximize the profit’.
e) American Marketing Association (AMA) defines advertising as: ‘Advertising is any
form of non-personal presentation of goods, services or ideas for action, openly paid for
by an identified sponsor’.

Advantages and disadvantages of news coverage and advertising.

The importance of news coverage emerged remarkably during and after World War II, and it

revolutionized communication and media with the spread of modern technologies. The goal of

media relations are to generate positive publicity, build relationships with key influencers, raise

brand awareness, and protect an organization’s reputation. It can be used to broadcast a

company’s goals, accomplishments or products via media outlets, including television,

newspapers, magazines, radio and podcasts, while advertising is to raise awareness of goods and

services to the public, as well as, boosting sales for the organization/company.

Advertising performs an "inform" function; it communicates information about the product, such
as features, and also its location of sale; it informs the consumers about new products, for

example Apple used an ad blitz to inform the public of its new IMac computer and later for it's

updated iPod; The TBWA chiat/day campaign ("yo quiero Taco Bell") introduced television

viewers to taco bell's new gorditas taco (controversy about who actually created the spokedog

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was settled out of court in 2003). Advertising also has a "persuasive" function/perform, this, it

tries to persuade consumers to purchase specific brands or change their attitudes toward the

product or company, for example, Miller beer has been spending millions of dollars on ad

campaigns designed to grab market share from Budweiser and bud light, The world's top beer

brand, though it's Humorous commercials, therefore will conclude that advertising is both
informative and persuasive, while the news is the collection of information from North, east,
west, and South, and dissertate it through various mediums.

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Reference

2022(Accessed:11may).https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Osama-Mohamme

descriptive study July 2022

d-Jawad-Abdul-Ghani-2230972595What is news coverage, its types, and journalistic arts-a

har-worth Press:New York and LondoN.

Lee J. and Carla J (2005): Principles of Advertising -A Global Perspective 2nd edition

Saad A. (2022): What is news coverage, its types, and journalistic arts-a descriptive study:July

What is Media Relations? [Definition, Benefits & Complete Guide] (pacepublicrelations.com)

What is news coverage, its types, and journalistic arts-a descriptive study (researchgate.net)

What is News Meaning Definition and Sources of News | Study Lecture Notes

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