Medium, message ... what's the difference?

Colleague McGregor -- Janyce, that is, not Glen -- has posted a fabulous analysis of the latest developments in PMO/press relations:

On several occasions, the Inside Politics blog and its predecessor have mentioned the latest front in the runs-hot-and-cold battle between the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Parliamentary Press Gallery: the distribution from the PMO of "photo releases" -- professional photographs from the prime minister's official photographer sent via email to anyone who wishes to use them for news or other promotional purposes.

The photographs, naturally, are flattering to the prime minister, and they are deliberate -- selected and distributed in a fashion consistent with the PMO's desired message(s) of the day.

Just as the idea of printing the text of a press release verbatim is abhorrent to most professional print journalists, the prospect of media organizations using these carefully-managed photographs is equally appalling to professional photojournalists.

This week, the PMO went one step further: issuing video press releases at the start of Stephen Harper's trip to China.

[...]

The initial distribution of the photo releases caught some media organizations off-guard. Some discovered they lacked established policies and procedures for their use, compared to professional photojournalists' images. The CBC, and others, now have set policies to remedy this situation, and generally avoid using a PMO photograph unless nothing else is available, and then only if it's clearly identified as the PMO's work.

But the photos have been used, in a variety of contexts -- even by the CBC.

Initially, some mistakes were made. Photos were used with incorrect attributions, which made them seem like photojournalism versus the photo releases they really are. On at least one occasion, a PMO shot went out on a photo wire service without being properly attributed to the PMO.

I'm not aware of any objective tracking of their use, but it would be interesting to know what kind of "pickup" they get across the board.

I asked Soudas if he knew how prevalent their use had become a couple of months ago, but he did not offer any specific information he might have from their own tracking. However, I can only assume they feel it's worth it to continue.

He maintained this week that the feedback he's received about these releases has been "overwhelmingly positive."

Read the rest of the story here.