Categories: OLD Media Moves

Switching to PR from business journalism

Caron Schwartz Ellis, the news editor of the Boulder County Business Report in Colorado, is leaving the paper in a week to become a PR person at Lynott & Associates, a PR firm that specializes in high-tech companies.

In the latest issue of the newspaper, Ellis reflects on what the change in careers means.

Ellis wrote, “Public relations, on its surface, seems to be more or less the polar opposite of journalism.

“Journalists are traditionally noted for their high ethical standards, taking a distanced stance from their subjects and providing an unbiased view. (Note the word ‘traditionally’ – we can exclude the 24-hour news services that shout about being fair and balanced but are clearly not).

“PR flacks are popularly viewed as nothing more than used-car salesmen without the plaid jackets.

“But it wasn’t that long ago that you couldn’t get into public relations without journalism credentials, Metzger noted. ‘When I first got into PR everybody, just about without exception, was a former journalist. Now that it’s a recognized profession it developed its own academic studies, and people choose it as their major.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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  • good move, jouno's dont like PR's cos they basically are doing their job for them, but they also have other sides to the game toi be able to play with. in this day of age where everyone is a jouno, PR hast fast become the epicentre of media relations, and journo's dont tlike this becase they are becoming dispensible.

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