Public Relations and Journalism

Topic: Discuss the differences and similarities in the role that Journalist and Public Relations professionals have in communication information to the wider public.

Within both today's society and media, a value of prominence has become harder to identify, and in some cases has been lost, truth. This term retains to being a pinnacle, defying aspect, between two very prevalent professions within today's modern society, Journalist and Public Relations. This essays focus will be not only on the discussion of truth within Journalism and PR, as this is only one factor to be considered, but ultimately will discuss their differences and similarities in the way they convey information to the wider public.

Both professions share the similarity of increasing awareness within the public domain; however it is the simplistic slurs, misperceptions and stereotypes that seem to define them both within the publics. Consequently, it is such misconceptions and stereotypes which have distorted the public's perception as to what each of these professions are about, and the reliance each of them has on one another.

To begin with, coming up with a singular definition for Public Relations is near impossible. One estimate sits at over 472 varying definitions in circulation ; however overlap among many of these can provide some headway into the field of Public Relations. James Grunig and Todd Hunt are American PR academics who have provided a template and framework for the majority of theorization about PR as we know it today. Grunig and Hunt's Managing Public Relations (1984) is one of the most quoted publications regarding such theorization. A widely accepted definition by PR academics and scholars alike is, "The management of communication between an organization and its publics" (Grunig and Hunt, 1984, p.7-8). What is significant within this quote is the establishment of a mutual relationship and respect, between the organization and its desired public. It involves maintaining a solid relationship within the organisation and within the community.

Thus in building such a relationship, Public Relation Practitioners rely on the media to function as a third party endorsement by means of reaching a larger, segmented audience, precluding the wrong market. This is when Journalist and Public Relations work in a symbiotic, somewhat 'harmonious' relationship. By providing already filtered information into newsrooms through press releases, Public Relation Practitioners have offered Journalists with inexpensive, readily available content. This technique, referred to as information subsidies, understandably have the natural ability to make the best possible impression on the public. Therefore, Journalists must always critically evaluate the content of such subsidies, researching further to get the best picture of Truth.

Generally, there is no excuse for bad Journalism; this includes accepting these information subsidies without question or further investigation, however as academic Michael Foley explains, "Journalists are facing new pressures with fewer resources. Print journalists are filling more pages, more supplements and colour magazines, and often an online breaking news service before starting on the newspaper. On TV, there are 24-hour news programmes to be produced; on radio, it's hourly news bulletins." (Foley, 2007, p.76) Journalists constantly face the pressure of taking short cuts, readily accepting stories of dubious provenance, resulting from the continual expansion of media sources, subsequently the need to fill more editorial space. The outcome of this is Journalists becoming 'over-stretched' and lacking the time to have a comprehensive understanding of the facts in their stories.

As a result, there is an increasing reliance on information subsidises to gather the requisite amount of information to make a story deadline. This also means that press releases have a higher likelihood to be relayed verbatim, giving Public Relation Practitioners direct contact with their desired publics. And although gatekeeping secures the final say of publishing to lie in the hands of Journalists, they are becoming increasingly more and more dependent upon Public Relations. Thus, a relationship of mutual dependence is evident, needing one another to operate, and this is an important establishment for understanding how each of these professions convey their information to the wider public.

"The increasing power of public relations and the consequent decline in journalism has contributed to a collapse in public trust." (Foley, 2007, p.77) This collapse that Foley examines is a repercussion of the way truth has been neglected as a subordinate factor. British PR lecturer Kevin Moloney believes that this dependence is causing disablement to their (Journalist) critical faculties. If Moloney is correct, than the process in which