The "dark side"?
Is public relations the dark side? Does that make journalism the light side?
In an article in The Guardian entitled "The Pulling Power of the 'Dark Side,'" (http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1996281,00.html) David McCormack writes that promising journalism students, and well renowned journalists are being wooed away from the once shining glory of the newspaper industry and entering the field of public relations. Although it is clear from the tone of the article that McCormack does not really believe that public relations is an evil and corrupt dark art, but rather a more lucrative field than journalism, titles like this only add to the pervading view of the PR industry. The perceived struggle between journalism and public relations is also part of the reason that our industry often gets the short end of the stick. For, if journalists are the muckrakers trying to clean up society by exposing hidden truths and corruption, than public relations officers must be the obstacles on their path, trying to throw a wrench in the works by giving journalists misleading information and trying to spin stories. The key to dispelling this myth is by revealing how journalists and PRO's work together to create stories, that the relationship between these two field, although rocky at times, is an interdependent one where they rely upon each other to accomplish their goals.
3 comments:
I am one of those journalism students who were “wooed away from the once shining glory of the newspaper industry and entering the field of public relations”… I think there has always been this fight between journalists and PRPs and there probably always will be. When I told my teacher in journalism that I was planning to do a post grad in PR, he said: “That is such a shame!” I think journalists like to think that they are the watchdog of society, that their job is important for the democracy, that they give everyone a voice etc, the list is long… They do not want to admit that they are quite often dependent on PR practitioners as sources of news. PR practitioners on the other hand like to brag about the fact that journalists are dependent on them, and that they are the once who control the news agenda. However, in my opinion, I think, as you wrote, that the relationship between them is an interdependent one where they rely upon each other. Brian McNair has written some interesting books about this “interdependent” relationship of you are interested. What makes the relationship problematic though is that none of the parts want to admit that they depend on the other.
I do agree with you that journalism and PR practitioners do in fact have a mutual relationship, whether or not they actually want to admit it. I think that the reason for the switch in professions from Journalism to PR is that the salary is better. I also think that Journalists who do switch fields will have the advantage of previously working in that field and have made contacts.
In any case, I think both sides know that they are interdependent, even though they may never actually admit it.
Hey Vicky!
I definitely agree with you that the public should be educated more about the relationship between journalists and PR practitioners, and the fact that both of them tend to rely on each other. But surely people must realize that journalists are extremely busy people, and if it was not for PR help they wouldn't be able to get the broad range of information about products, events, initiatives etc. that they write about.
But then i'm pretty sure it is not just PR practitioners who have to deal with negative stereotypes, as journalists are not always seen as the good guys either. I've encountered a number of tutors with a journalism background throughout both my A-levels and Bachelors in Britain, and i've learned from them that the journalism industry has to deal with its own perceptions issues. In fact, I personally was discouraged from pursuing my childhood ambition of becoming a journalist by my parents, not that much because of the low pay or long working hours, but more because they held negative views of the profession (in spite of the fact that both of my grandparents were well-established journalists in Kiev!) But somehow they were fine with me doing PR :)
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