by Tyron Devotta
PR communications begins with a feeling. At its core, PR is about emotional resonance—how a story feels to you. But if that’s all you rely on, you’re already adrift. The real challenge lies not in how you feel about the story, but in how others will respond—especially the gatekeepers who decide whether the story is ever seen.
The Editor’s Mindset: Relevance Is Everything
This is where many PR practitioners fall short. They often mistake media as a passive billboard—something you post on and walk away from. They believe once their story gets published, the job is done. In reality, the job has just begun.
Effective PR requires the ability to empathize with an editor’s mindset. The single most important ingredient in getting your story published is relevance. Not just relevance to a broad audience—but to the editor who must decide, often in a matter of seconds, whether your story deserves space. You need to match their priorities, their thinking, their sense of timing. If your story doesn’t connect with their moment, it will simply vanish.
When Marketing and PR Blur
Unfortunately, today’s media landscape has blurred the lines between PR and marketing. With larger advertising budgets, companies increasingly pressure media outlets to carry stories by trading editorial space for ads. This backdoor influence may get your story in print, but it comes at a cost: credibility. Once the editorial integrity is compromised, the narrative is lost. And when that happens, even the most high-profile placement becomes hollow. PR isn’t about getting published; it’s about getting believed.
Story vs. Narrative: Knowing the Difference
This is where the real work begins: crafting the narrative. Many people confuse “story” and “narrative”—but they’re not the same. A story is a sequence of events. It’s the what happened: characters, conflicts, outcomes. For instance: “A woman finds out her husband is having an affair, confronts him, and they divorce.”
A narrative, on the other hand, is how that story is told. It’s about structure, perspective, voice, and tone. It’s the choices we make about what to emphasize, what to omit, and how to guide the audience’s emotional journey.
Take that same story of the affair—it could be told from the wife’s point of view, as a slow unraveling of clues. Or it could be narrated backwards, starting with the divorce and working toward the revelation. Same story, different narratives. And each evokes a different emotional response.
Navigating Micro-Narratives in a Fast World
This matters deeply in PR. We now live in an age of micro-narratives—TikTok videos, Instagram reels, bite-sized content where stories are compressed into seconds. Everyone is trying to tell a story quickly, and audiences are consuming these narratives constantly. But corporate PR can’t be shallow. It needs to uncover deeper dimensions.
The PR Professional’s Duty
A PR professional’s responsibility isn’t just to promote the brand—it’s to protect it, to examine it, and most importantly, to tell its story in a way that is both authentic and compelling. This doesn’t mean spinning the truth. It means shaping the story with purpose, giving it direction, and offering a unique angle that will resonate with the public and the media alike.
Unlike journalists, who are bound to construct narratives strictly from reality, PR professionals have the power—and the duty—to construct reality from narrative. In journalism, you gather facts and build a story. In PR, you often start with a mission or vision, and from that, you build the story that makes it real to the world.
Crafting Reality from Narrative
This isn’t unethical—it’s the job. Yes, PR allows more latitude in crafting perspectives, but only within the bounds of truth and organizational alignment. Once a narrative is agreed upon and published, it becomes the story the organization stands by.
In many organizations, a vision is born and then translated into a story. That story is codified, repeated, and eventually becomes the company’s reality. The power of PR lies in shaping that process: turning ideas into shared belief.
Beyond Coverage: Building Influence
This is why good PR is far more than just “getting coverage.” It’s about understanding the difference between publicity and influence, between stories and narratives, and using that understanding to create a lasting, credible identity in the public eye.
In short: while journalists create stories from what has happened, PR professionals have the unique opportunity—and responsibility—to craft stories that shape what will happen.