Print media today is still considered to be the number one medium for public relations practitioners, despite the recent progress were seeing in electronic media and especially the Internet. Public relations practitioners channel any pertinent information through the media in order to send it to its target audiences or shareholders in the company. Public relations professionals mostly deal with print media. Print media is considered an important function for public relations professionals because many newspaper and magazine agencies use new releases.
Before the terrible attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001 newspaper readership had been steadily declining in the United States and the rest of the world. After September 11, 2001 newspapers readership had improved as well the media's image. Americans suddenly wanted to know to be informed about world affairs, specifically the war on terror and protecting our nation. From "The Practice of Public Relations" book: 49% considered the media "highly professional," compared to 73% after 9/11, 59% considered the media "politically biased," compared to 47% after 9/11, and 35% believed the news media "don't care" about the people they report on, while 47% found them compassionate.
Based on a study done by the U.S. Industry & Market Outlook there are 30,700 printing companies in the United States. As for magazines 17,321 are published in the United States according to the National Directory of Magazines. Furthermore magazine readership has seen an increase in its readership.
Now I will begin discussing publicity and its relevance. First, off publicity is known as the conscious attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. Publicity is achieved by directly working with media. In addition, publicity is understood a more powerful method than advertising. Advertising cost a lot of money. Think about it a full-page ad in the New York Times