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Topic: Journalism to PR/Communications
| Author | Message |
| journoguy | Posted – 10/17/2007 4:33:41 PM | show profile I am a journalist with over eight years of show producing, investigative off-air reporting, booking, writing, and field producing at a network level (NBC, FOX News, etc..). I have left the NY market and have been looking in a smaller market at getting a position with a Public Relations/Media Relations/Communications firm. Having spent years covering international and high level stories I have been quite surprised at the negative reponse I have gotten after more than a year of attempting to make the transition. The agency CEO's have dismissed my background and virtually said I have no PR/Communications experience. Despite these remarks I have reiterated the fact that I've been exposed to situations which have given me a tremendous insight into Communications and crisis management. I need some suggestions -- kids with two years PR experience are getting hired over me and I don't get it. Have I gone about this in the wrong way? I am young and ambitious but the fact my experience is being overlooked is quite distressing. Any suggestions? |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 10/17/2007 4:40:07 PM | show profile There have been a few threads on this - do a search on the board to find them. My succinct advice is to look at nonprofits. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 10/17/2007 8:21:30 PM | show profile This has been covered a lot. A lot of times PR firms are concerned about hiring journalists, because often journalists come in from a journalist-perspective: "I know what makes a good story," etc. The PR firms are concerned whether you know how to handle clients, whether you can rack up billable hours, and whether you are truly willing/able to handle the stuff from the other side. In some ways, yes, they do like the inexperienced, because they won't have to break them of journalistic habits. Remember PR is more about sales than journalism. |
| journoguy | Posted – 10/17/2007 11:28:56 PM | show profile Television news, good or bad, is about sales as well. If I program a bad show that doesn't sell advertising or ratings it tanks. A network journalist knows how a subject/person/crisis will be perceived by an audience -- they also know, with experience what the subject/person/crisis needs to do in order to get a publicly perceived "smooth ride" -- a positive one. A journalist therefore can be valuable to a PR firm. |
| TVchick | Posted – 10/18/2007 6:54:19 AM | show profile | email poster Journoguy, email me me off board. I was in broadcast for 10 years and after maybe 40 interviews was able to transition into PR. |
| PRmagnet | Posted – 10/18/2007 11:29:25 AM | show profile | email poster Journalism to PR I have worked in PR for fifteen years. PR firms don't like journalist because they want to tell the whole truth in a story. PR is about spin and sticking to the postive facts and minimizing the negative facts. Many journalist have a problem with that. In PR you have to be as truthful as possible, without compromising your client. This does not come naturally to a journalist. On a daily basis I provide media with the facts of a story: a shooting, embezzlement, etc. The difference between a journalist and a PR person is that I only provide informative facts on what is asked and no more if it hurts my client or brand. |
| Cyrus | Posted – 10/18/2007 11:49:37 AM | show profile As others have said, this has been covered before, as the journalism to PR track is quite common. One thing I would add is that while they want to know you can sell a story, they're equally concerned with client management. Managing clients in a professional services environment can be a very tricky transition for former journalists; journalists are trained to be "muckrakers" of sorts and are attracted to the profession because of that. But in PR, it's all about keeping clients happy, even if that means doing things you think are nuts. Lastly, crazily there's a lot of hostility on the part of many PR people toward journalists. I've never understood it and think it's nuts, but it exists. Many think they can do the journalists' job better than the journalist themselves, which causes them to disagree when a writer may not like a story, etc. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| journoguy | Posted – 10/18/2007 12:43:15 PM | show profile Thank you all for the comments and replies to my note. Very interesting advice which I will keep in mind as I attempt the transition from Journalism to PR. Just a note to folks like PRMagnet -- unfortunately, your perceptions of the Journalism business (in particular the national TV News biz, which I come from) is rather off the mark. News has changed a lot in 20 years and so has the role of a network producer. Like it or not, Journalism is now a business like any other -- Public Relations professionals don't have to hide behind the cloak of "fairness" as many Journos try to do (not very well albeit). Something to keep in mind... |
