John Sullivan's recent article on the Changing relationship of Journalism and PR has brought an important issue to my attention. Journalism and PR have one distinct similarity; they both are completely dependent on their credibility and reliability in order to be effective. This similarity makes Mr. Sullivan's observations about the dangers for journalism being replaced by PR also important for PR's relationship to its publics.
Mr. Sullivan is concerned about the fact that if PR firms become the driving force in the media the public will only be getting information that is skewed and only serves specifics interests and not the general public. This is a legitimate worry for our country as a whole, an independent an unbiased news source is vital to our culture, but the New role that PR could take on has an effect on how PR will function.
I believe that if PR were to be the main force in the media it would have to alter the way that it performs to prevent a loss of trust. The general public will not be ignorant of the influence of PR for long, and once they are aware of the influence of Public Relations practitioners a feeling of distrust could develop. Just as many people feel the Media has a liberal bias and that MSNBC is a “left wing” news Organization and Fox is a “rightwing” news organization the public will also begin to understand that news outlets will be a “Company organization” or a “government organization.” This will lead to a rift in the relationships that PR people have with the consuming publics. The trust that is essential between Public Relations professionals and their publics will be strained, which would affect the potency of any PR professional.
If PR is going to take on this new Role its going to have to be even more strict about its ethical standards in order to not only to serve as a worthy replacement for Journalists, but also so that they can still communicate between organizations and their publics honestly.
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