PR vs. Journalism – Who’s the Enemy, Here?

There’s always a simmering tension between journalism and PR. At its best, the relationship should be mutually beneficial: PR offering journalists information and context that will help with their stories, while journalists can test the credibility of PR claims, pointing out any potential flaws in the argument and, ultimately, making them more valuable. However, all too often the relationship can flare up into something a lot more heated: resulting in a mix of drama, comedy and unresolved romantic tension for onlookers. My hazy memory of 80s TV suggests it’s all a bit like Moonlighting.

In June this year, the tension broke into outright hostilities again. First came Robert Peston’s Charles Wheeler lecture, which bemoaned the apparently increasing influence of PR. This was followed up by further pieces from Nick Cohen and Roy Greenslade. In all three cases, the message was pretty clear, if expressed to slightly different degrees. PRs are the enemy, and journalists should fight increasing attempts from PRs to gain control of messages and stories, instead remembering that their core role is to uncover the story that doesn’t want to be revealed (or, as former Times editor Louis Heren so memorably put it, “Why is this lying bastard lying to me?”).

My first reaction on reading these pieces was to search for vic-and-bob-handbags.gif. The second was to point out that by far the most cited examples of PR evil seem to come from ex-journalists (with the often-reviled Alistair Campbell a leading figure there), and that newspapers themselves haven’t shied away from completely manufacturing stories in order to, e.g., start the odd war. However, with more than a month’s reflection on board, two things have become clear. First, the journalists quoted deal with the financial and political space, rather than the B2B technology waters I swim in where, simply because of the nature of the press and industry, journalist / PR relations are somewhat necessary. More importantly, reading each of the pieces shows that the problem here lies not simply with PR, which is exploiting an obvious opportunity, but with the press itself. Quite simply, reduced budgets and increased pressure to generate content mean that journalists have little option but to rely more and more on PRs for information and ideas, and less time to check and double-check any claims made. At the same time, the need for funding means that paid-for content, or advertorial, becomes a much more attractive way to fill out editorial space.

However, I don’t think this represents some sort of grand victory of PR for the hearts and minds of the people. The problem is, to my understanding, PR needs journalists and an independent, journalistic voice in order to succeed. The average consumer isn’t stupid, especially in the B2B audience. If they see that stories are essentially re-heated press releases, or blatant propaganda, then they will believe them less and less. Eventually, PR will have about as much value as simply buying advertising space and spreading press releases far and wide across the newswires, and at that point exactly what use are we? Instead, PR should be encouraging in-depth, well-funded journalism regardless of industry, as otherwise our symbiotic (or some might say parasitical) relationship with journalists will wither.

I have to admit, I don’t have any immediate solution for how to make well-funded journalism magically happen. The issues have been there for a long time: both in terms of being able to fund journalism and actually attract and keep talent in order to do the vital work. Many journalists switch to PR, not because they want to turn to “the dark side” but because, especially at the lower levels, journalism is a thankless and often poorly-rewarded career. I still remember being made redundant from one, already low-paid journalistic post in a takeover only to be re-offered the same post for even less. At which point I went off to do office temping as it actually paid enough to support my family. Ultimately, there may not be much us PRs can do directly to switch things around. However, if we can make sure we’re supporting in-depth journalism where possible and making clients and the public aware of the benefits proper, well-funded journalism provides, we might at least help stem the tide a little.