Community Relations

Important to any business is maintaining a positive image in the community. Therefore, a company should take special care and not overlook the importance of becoming a "neighbor of choice". As a "neighbor of choice," large businesses such as News Corp are more likely to obtain a license to operate in and around a company's local community as they please. This could mean the building of new offices  in rural areas without having to deal with much back lash from the community. Community relations also deals with making companies seem like they're real people, who not only react to what the community needs but does so in a way that ameliorates their lives.
           Recognizing the importance of looking out for the community, News Corporation stresses its sustainable business practices, as well as its advocation for industry-wide internet safety principles.

           More specifically, carbon neutrality has been a goal for News Corp since 2008. Now 2011, News Corp C.E.O. Rupert Murdoch reports that "News Corp has become carbon neutral across all of our global operations and we are the first company of our kind to do so." In total, the company will save $20M per year and reduce data center emissions by almost 15% the site's Web page explains here. The company also uses its media outlets as a way to promote the "go green" ideology. The Home Tree Initiative, due to the partnership between Avatar and Earth Day Network, helped to plant 1 million trees in more than 15 countries. Myspace, owned by New Corp also has celebrity members' profiles "hijacked" to promote WWF's Earth Hour informing people the importance of the protecting our planet. The most recent "hijack" was Victoria's Secret supermodel Miranda Kerr, showing her role as one of the Global Ambassadors for Earth Hour. News Corp also has a separate Web site offering ways for members of the community to do their part at home in joining the green revolution. 

Other ways News Corp uses the Internet and Myspace to show its consideration of the community's welfare include the ongoing endeavor since 2008 to include new online safety regulations, protections for teens and tools for parents. Protections comprise of "defaulting 16 and 17 year old users’ profiles to private and strengthening the technology that enforces the site’s minimum age of 14". A 24-hour hotline is also available to parents and teens who experience safety issues on the site. Myspace is also working with Attorneys General in the Multi-State Working Group on Social Networking representing 49 states and the District of Columbia to provide online safety public service announcements targeted at parents and free parental software reinforcing these PSA's messages. 


Overall,  all of News Corporation's community relations initiatives show the humane nature a major media conglomerate can achieve through working with and in the interests of its consumers. 

Media Relations Activites

Handling media relations activities is quite the task. You write an amazing press release, send it out to your media contact list, and upload it on your Web page's newsroom for all to see.  But who actually chooses to use it and where it ends up is beyond a company's control.  Media Corporation follows a similar system as several news releases are located directly on the company's Web site. Categorized by year, with 2011 currently at 13 releases, these clips focus more on financial issues and the latest innovations and companies to join the media conglomerate. Additionally, each release includes contact info at the bottom such as Investor Relations Contact, Reed Nolte, and Media Corp's General Press Contact, Teri Evertt.

News Corp also has a second categorized news release thread entitled, "Business Unit News" which releases information on the latest happenings within the smaller companies News Corp owns. For example how the popular comedic show American Dad, is being renewed for a seventh term. This info was published on prestigious news sites such as The Huffington Post online, and the Hollywood Reporter to tv/movie buff sites such as tvbythenumbers.com, Screen Rant, and Spoiler TV.

NEWS FLASH! The popular comedic show American Dad, is being renewed for a seventh term.

Other published articles relating to News Corp outside of the entertainment realm Web sites include The New York Times, which published an article on the company's global carbon neutrality atmosphere, and the $1million donation CEO Rupert Murdoch gave to the Republican Governors Association.

From these veteran newspapers, to the smallest media blog, getting Media Corps name out there is a media relations executive's raison d'être. Thus, all of these placements represent to several News Corp media relations department that hard work really did paid off in the unpredictable world of press.