It seems that the public has an impression of PR people as overenthusiastic and perhaps a bit phony. Considering our role as purveyors of a positive public image, somehow we’ve ended up with a somewhat mixed image of our own profession. While accounts from journalists of the percentage of irrelevant pitches they receive attest to the existence of a lot of bad or careless PR people, there is also a deeper character to the business that forms the backbone of the work we do: a deeply journalistic integrity that helps us keep our clients’ messages authentic, interesting to the average human being, and valuable.
In the past this integrity has come from without, demanded of us by journalists, but as the business of journalism changes with the increasing influence of bloggers and other less formal media members, and more news and information is disseminated by people without degrees in journalism on social media and platforms we have yet to envision, PR agents will have to readjust to their changing role in the system of maintaining journalistic integrity. In the future, who will decide where news will come from, whether stories are newsworthy, and how will audiences decide what is worthwhile to be consumed?
My hope is that no matter how the media changes, PR will remain the home of earned media coverage, and it would not surprise me if one day we inherit the mantle of responsibility for journalistic integrity. People will always demand integrity and truth in information sources, and it may fall to us to keep businesses and public figures honest on social media, blogs, and whatever comes next.