The concept of internships is a good one. From the beginning internships have been a great way for public relations students (and most other students for that matter) to learn how to apply the theory and practices studied in the classroom to real-life situations. And while experience isn’t all there is to sound public relations education, it remains a critical component.

In fact “The Professional Bond,” a recent report by the Commission on Public Relations Education, continues to characterize supervised work experience as an essential part of good public relations education.

Good internships require that interns be doing work that is of value to organizations. Without this, internships have little value for the intern or the organization.

Earlier this year PRSA issued a set of guidelines for the ethical use of interns clarifying its position that it is ethically wrong to employ interns who add real value to an organization or employer without compensating them for their work. However, as a recent Reuters’ story about older interns shows, some organizations still aren’t playing by the rules.

Continue reading " Young or Old, PR Interns Play Invaluable Role "

As the Columbia Journalism Review revealed in a recent op-ed, “Churnalism” may be the next new concept on all of our radar screens. But is it really something that we all need to worry about?  I don’t think so — if we’re doing the right things in the right ways. And that’s an important distinction.

The term churnalism describes the recycling (or churning) of press releases into journalistic (journalism) news. A new website (Churnalism.com) in the UK compares press release text with the content produced by British newspapers, as well as the BBC and Sky News. When the similarity is greater than 20 percent, Churnalism.com suggests the content may be churn rather than true journalism.

Critics in the UK say that this exposure of journalistic news as public relations material could undermine PR professionals’ ability to influence their clients’ publics, and that journalists will suffer a loss of credibility when their dependence on PR for content is revealed.

Continue reading " Time for PR to Consider Impact of ‘Churnalism’ "

While Rob Walker’s analysis, in last weekend’s edition of The New York Times Magazine, of the potential benefits from negative publicity following the Gap’s recent logo misstep was a good read on a timely topic, he makes the same mistake that lots of folks seem to do: equating the function of publicity with the concept of public relations.

I poll my “Introduction to Public Relations” class at the beginning of each term, and most of them think that the terms “publicity” and “public relations” are interchangeable — by the end of the course, they know better. Understanding the mix-up is easy — lots of sources get it all wrong and add to the confusion (Wikipedia is one of many), although some (Merriam-Webster Online, among others) present more accurate definitions.

Continue reading " Dispelling Stereotypes & Misinformation About Public Relations "

In his book “The Critical 14 Years of your Professional Life,” Robert Dilenschneider quotes his mentor (and my old friend) Professor Walt Seifert. “Mentoring is nothing more than helping another person succeed.” Walt had a great way with words, and it took him just nine to sum up the essence of mentoring.

There are many ways to find a mentor – formally, informally or even casually. If you have a job, it can be as easy as looking around the office to find a person who does what you aspire to do and simply ask for help. Or else, there are PRSA programs in place to help you find those professional kindred spirits — for example, through the PRSA College of Fellows mentorship program or online through the PRSA Jobcenter.

Continue reading " Mentoring Matters, And You Can Help "