PR and the press: two big guns

Abstract

The Guardian and Sunday Times columnist examines the very different but interconnecting roles of journalism and public relations and concludes: "Both have a shared interest in the conduits of mass information in Britain. They have an interest in their plurality and fluidity. The first thing totalitarian states do is check such conduits, block them and censor them. The first thing democracies do is ensure they are kept open. Thus while I believe journalism and public relations should be in natural conflict, they should collectively guard the freedom of the press. They have a shared interest in short-term commercial imperatives not gaining the upper hand in the management of newspapers or broadcasting. They have an interest in editorial columns remaining unpolluted by advertising. They have an interest in news media retaining sufficient public esteem to call forth cross-subsidy, whether from capitalists in the case of serious newspapers or from taxpayers in the case of broadcasting. Above all they have an interest in numbers, in choice of outlets. The only thing more important than journalists being sceptical of public relations is that they should be sceptical of each other."