PR & Communications Forums Africa

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    On journos going into PR...

    I don't think journalists becoming PR practitioners or even media liaison officers are doing justice to the PR industry or the communications fraternity at large.

    Companies who also employ these individuals because of their extensive experience in the media as journalists are as guilty as these bored individuals in their field of choice (journalism).

    PR is not like journalism - we do not get assigned to stories every morning. PR is more about planning, being able to determine where opportunities and loopholes are, how to effectively maintain the image of an organisation, when and how to position your institution favourably, what is your social responsibility obligation as an organisation - does anyone think journos know all this except jumping off the bed in the middle of the night running for a scoop or a possible front page coverage, and later submit this for a 'brave journalist competition'.

    Journalists are more story driven (one angle) not necessarily creative and most of the time they fail to be objective, to them a negative side of the story is the one that will sell the newspaper.

    To mention a few important aspects of PR:
    * Crisis management
    * Communications strategies
    * PR & Marketing mix
    * Media relations which includes writing of Press release, articles, speeches and media launches, media briefings, etc

    Let's do Biz