Truth and objectivity

Like it or not, PR officers and Journalists must work together- despite the various implications of this fact. Jo Bowman states that ‘The relationship between journalists and PR practitioners is not usually a happy one. There is mutual distrust, neither has a good word for the other, yet they are forced to work with each other’ (Bowman 2002)

When two professionals with such contradictory roles are forced to work together there is no doubt that ethical workplace issues will occur.

In our most basic form a Journalist exists to communicate the truth - or as close to the truth as possible- to the community. A PR professional exists to promote. Whether it be a product, celebrity, company or football team they will continually skew the truth to suit their purpose.

The main way PR professionals promote is to communicate with the media, that's why News Rooms will see several media releases faxed and emailed through to their offices on any given day.

With the rise of the internet and the economic downturn news rooms are getting smaller while dealines are getting tighter. This results in Journalists coming to all but rely on media releases, written by PR companies and professionals, for part of their daily news service. The issue here is clear- how can one attempt to communicate the truth when the news sources being used exist to distort the truth?

There is no simple answer here. We cannot go without the presence of PR, nor would we want to, when their job is done properly they can be an asset to your news service- by providing contacts, media conference information and general story verification. However I believe as Journalists we must push through the initial PR barrier to get at the guts of a story. We need to be constantly aware of the position PR plays in your news service- and play that card accordingly, never settling for a press release before making verifiying the story from as many angles as possible. It all comes down to our number one priority- maintaining objectivity.