Public Relations vs. Journalism: What’s the Difference?
Public relations and journalism are completely different professions. Most people are probably aware of this, but couldn’t tell you how they know… at least the unbiased reasons how they know.
Media has an interesting role in the American culture, especially today in the midst of a turbulent election and social unrest. As a whole, the public is very distrusting towards the media and everyone involved. But historically, journalism and public relations have had much different public perceptions within the media, one being more favorable than the other.
According to the American Press Institute, the role of a journalist is to “provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments.” They do this through impartial reporting not meant to sway their audience, but rather educate.
Journalists still get a bad rap sometimes, and their public trust levels are lower than ever, but nine times out of ten the public sees journalists as fighting for a noble cause. They are activists, public servants if you will, out to rid the world of injustice through their fair reporting.
Public relations practitioners are devil spawn put on Earth to do just the opposite.
The role of the PR professional is trickier to define. Overall, public relations is any effort to improve and influence public perception. It’s a deliberate, planned and sustained effort aimed at persuading the public’s attitudes and opinions towards a person, product or idea.
They’re otherwise known as “spinsters” simply tricking the American people into believing what they want you to. PR professionals can’t be trusted because they are explicitly writing to sway the public, not inform. Every piece of information the PR firm releases has a bias toward the cause they are representing.
At least, this is the main public opinion when it comes to public relations. And it would be wrong to say this isn’t right… because it is to an extent. Throughout history, PR has always had a bad reputation with either trying to clean up a mess or prevent another one from starting. That’s what they’re getting paid to do.
But, just like journalism, public relations is 100 percent necessary, and in today’s world more than ever.
In the 1800’s Alvin Adams, a prominent railroad shipping tycoon, said “Public relations are a key component of any operation in this day of instant communication and rightly inquisitive citizens.”
150 years later, this still rings true today. With easy access to so much information, companies need professionals to convey a consistent, streamlined message to the public.
Companies need positive images to be portrayed, and loyal consumer bases to be built. And if a crisis should arise, they need someone to handle this as elegantly as possible to maintain this image. Cue public relations.
With that being said, journalism and public relations are two sides of the same coin. Oftentimes they are pitted against each other, but without one another, their individual jobs would be much harder.
The two professions work together and overlap in order to get information to the public by performing many of the same functions, like writing and interviewing. They use each other too; news organizations are an outlet for public relations practitioners, and pr firms are sources for the journalists.
It’s the journalist’s job to report on information, and the PR professional’s job to convey information, but both share the same common thread: informing the American people.
Sources:
Public Relations Writing: The Essentials of Style and Format by Thomas H. Bivins
