Looking at both Public Relations writing versus Journalism writing I believe that there are a lots of similarities and few differences. One difference between the two fields would be story telling style. You see a big difference in story telling styles because how both jobs work. Public Relations is about representing your client in the brightest light possible. For example, a big named corporation comes into a local town for instance Walmart or a Target. If this big named corporation is owned by a PR client they’re practitioners will release press releases talking about how it would affect the community involvement and economic benefits. The newspapers will write about the people who opposed to the idea of the corporation coming to town and other issues. News releases are now becoming more popular because they look more like news stories. They provide good quotes and contact information which in turn, leads to being more newsworthy and more likely to be covered.
One similarity between Public Relations and Journalism is that the skill set needed to be successful in the field hasn’t changed. Ben Silverman, a former columnist for the PR fuel wrote this, “Journalists and public relations professionals need to possess the ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and honestly. You must understand the pressures of daily deadlines and be extremely aware of the cause and effect of making public statements. As a journalist, you must be protective of your publication and your reader. As a public relations professional, you must be protective of your company or client. In a nutshell, if you can’t write, talk to people, and put forth easily understandable arguments, you’re in the wrong profession.” (Pubic Relations and Journalism: More Similar Than You Might Think Silverman)
Learning about both fields made me realize they’re are more similarities than differences but since 1980 journalism is becoming less popular. “The Newspaper Association of America reported that newspaper advertising revenue dropped from an all-time high of $49 billion in 2000 to $22 billion in 2009. That’s right — more than half. A lot of that loss is due to the recession. Even the most upbeat news executive has to admit that many of those dollars are not coming back soon. Six major newspaper companies have sought bankruptcy protection in recent years.” (PR Industry Fills Vacuum Left by Shrinking Newsrooms) This proves that the changeover between journalist to pr has been on the rise even before the recession. With journalism losing more than $27 billion dollars in 33 years they’re on a massive decline. In the end both professions are starting to become one and makes it easier for some professionals to switch from PR to Journalism or vise-verse.
References:
Silverman, B (2009, May 13). Pubic Relations and Journalism: More Similar Than You Might Think
http://www.ereleases.com/prfuel/public-relations-and-journalism-more-similar-than-you-might-think/
Sullivan, J (2011, May 1).PR Industry Fills Vacuum Left by Shrinking Newsrooms.
http://www.propublica.org/article/pr-industry-fills-vacuum-left-by-shrinking-newsrooms
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