The Importance of Public Relations

Recently in my Mass Comm Theory class there was a debate between some students of whether or not Public Relations is necessary. One side of the argument was that people/organizations should be able to speak for themselves and take responsibility for their own actions. One student believed that the PR field will not be around in the future.

During this debate I was reminded of a lawyer in a court case. If PR is not useful/appropriate it could be argued that lawyers are doing the same thing only in a different scenario.

PR is important for many reasons. For one thing, not everybody is able to communicate with the public effectively. A PR professional accomplishes their primary objective when they successfully create, change, or reinforce opinion through persuasion.

Not only are communication skills important, but PR professionals have to be able to manage, market, and control individuals and organizations.

If anything, I think the PR field will continue to grow in the future because there are so many different aspects involved and a variety of job opportunities to choose from.

A Third World Nation in America

A New PR Initiative by RWU PR Students to inform faculty, students and staff, as well as the surrounding community of Bristol, RI of what we call "Third World America".  This third word is Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. In doing this, the students hope to raise awareness and alter attitudes toward Pine Ridge and help people to understand what is going on in their own country. 

Pine Ridge Native American Reservation is home to over 30,00 Lakota Sioux Native Americans. The Reservation is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined (spread across 1.7 million acres), and lies within the two poories counties in the United States. The following are disturbing statistics about the Pine Ridge Reservation:

- Unemployment = 80%

- 49% are under Federal Poverty Level

- Adolescent suicide is four times the national average

- Life expectancy is 47 years for males, 52 for
  females

- Infant mortality is five times the national average

- 30% homelessness

- 60% live in substandard housing

- The Lakota Sioux have the poorest health of any minority 

   group in the United States

- Most housing facilities have no phone, electricity or running 

   water

- Housing can be as bad as 16 people in a 4 bedroom home

If you are interested in learning more, here is more information

Accrediation with PRSA: What is it worth?

Below you will find three reasons that might be enough to become accredited through PRSA.  Combine the APR with the MBA and your paychecks will be bigger than mine. Accrediation can provide you with some valuable skills and experience that will help you advance in your career and possibly earn more money. In a time when there is more and more competition for PR jobs, and so many people are out of work, it could be a good time to get your APR certification.

1. You’ll earn more money with an APR. A recent Korn/Ferry study found that APRs earn an average of 20% more. Of course, you could increase your earning power by 35% with an MBA, but it costs a lot more than the APR.

2. People will take you more seriously. As a professional, with certification that says so, you’ll be more respected in the industry. Of course, just as many people say the APR isn’t widely known outside of PR, so not too many people may truly appreciate all the hard work that goes into it.

3. You’ll be more respected by your peers. I saw several examples that referred specifically to APRs (other APRs will respect you), but non-APRs will probably wonder what those letters are all about.

To read more from the blog this article first appeared click here.  Many thanks to Ashley Portal for this link!

Top 10 Reasons Letterman is Still Golden

Hot news off  PR News Online.

Despite David Letterman's confessions about late-night dalliances with female staffers on his show, Dave is still Golden. Helene Solomon, CEO of Solomon McCown & Company, gives a communicator's perspective about why he will survive this image crisis.

10.) Dave owned the story. He controlled the message and did so on his turf—behind the desk.

9.) He avoided death by a thousand cuts by being transparent and first.

8.) He said “I’m sorry” and seemed to mean it, especially when apologizing to his wife.

Follow this jump to see the top seven.

Print is Not Dead!

These comments featured below are from a larger debate over the subject of the medium of print. I have included only a portion of the debate, which you can read in its entirety here.

According to John Griffin, President of the National Geographic Society's magazine group, "print is where words go to live--we're still reading the ancient Greeks. On the other hand, I question the life span of blogs."

Griffen continues, "Blogging is great if you want to see yourself published unedited, and the Internet is wonderful when you already know what you are interested in. But there is tremendous value in passionate, knowledgeable, talented editors who can assign stories and photographs with budgets to do them better and more authoritatively than any individual can. The reader of a magazine like National Geographic can depend on the information being accurate, coherent, concise, beautiful and created by the by most talented writers and photographers in the world. And readers may learn about something that they didn't know they were interested in.

Print is the perfect introduction to an informed debate and to the deep resources of the web. The words and pictures in print or on a magazine's web site become the basis for searching, linking, talking and ranting for those with the time or inclination to do so. The web is the friend of print, not its killer."