Do journalists make the best PR people?
By srw1976 on
February 3, 2011
The UK government’s director of communications has been a hot topic recently. Firstly when Andy Coulson resigned, then all the speculation about who would take over, then the appointment of a senior BBC journalist to the role.
I have been fascinated by the way that PR is being discussed – it seemed to be taken for granted that the new post holder would be an ex-journalist and possible from a ‘red top’ (although of course this wasn’t the case in the end). But why? Aren’t PR and journalism two totally different occupations/professions?
The BBC story announcing the new appointment states that Craig Oliver will have to ‘sell’ David Cameron. Is that what everyone still thinks PR is ? About sales? Or perhaps I am looking at PR through rose coloured glasses and that actually is all its about…..tell me I’m wrong please!
And then this week we had Paul Lewis from BBC Radio 4 Money Box (which we all love) Tweeting that it was a sorry day when a journalist crossed to the other side with the implication that to do so they had to give up an interest in the truth – uh? That maybe one perspective on PR and we all know there are PR folk out there who are no stranger to the odd fib, but surely PR has moved on? Its time people realised that a lot of PR work is about understanding, ethics, employee engagement etc etc.
Ann, Your question is a bit like asking “do poachers make the best gamekeepers?”
The answer has less to do with skill, and more to do with motivation. Bad poachers probably end up being gamekeepers, and good poachers enjoy such lucrative gains they would rarely consider a career change.
The intrinsic web of PR, media and politics is tighter than a Ghillie’s pocket. More about industry knowledge, especially intelligence on the key players (size of your contact book) than understanding ethics etc.
Ann. You’ve raised the perennial question that PR academics or at least the academically minded would ask about the field. Unfortunately, PR continues to be about news management not necessarily reputation management. One is inherently asymmetrical whilst the other is less so. Web 2.0 I think, and despite the great opportunities it provides for the liberalisation of the reputation management field, has likely made PR more about news management considering that newspapers and tv news still shape the opinions in a powerful way even in the 21st Century. So for example, rumours can be easily spread on the internet but the tv or newspapers seem to be the arena for stemming such a tide…not necessarily the internet.
If this is indeed the case, the previous post is pretty bang on. Having ready and willing contacts makes news management that much easier. The political climate in Britain the last decade or so has not helped the PR industry much….and that’s coming from a politician….of sorts