John, thanks for the mention and for your insight. I agree about writing -- when I ran a big PR firm (waaay back in the '90s) I only hired account execs who had "real world" writing experience, preferably journalism. I also refused to hire anyone who went to the University of Kansas, but that was mostly due to my feelings about their basketball team 
Gary:
Well, I could have instituted a similar boycott against University of Texas grads (I went to A&M), but then I'd have had no staff!
The writing issue is one that I'd like to cover soon on my blog. Perhaps I will get to it today or over the weekend.
This may be WAAAAY off topic (and a bit philosophical), but as a working journalist (and one who loves to write), I'm curious to hear your argument for why a journalist would want to go into PR. I'm not trying to pick a fight - I would truly like to know your opinion. I would be lying if I said I never felt the urge to give up the TV newsroom for a job with "regular" hours and the ability to take vacation in the months of February, May, July, and November.
Rob:
I think you hit the nail on the head ... there is more stability in PR in terms of hours, etc.
That was my motivation. I worked as a sportswriter and I could see the future -- never being home on weekends and working nights the rest of my career. I didn't want to do that and so corporate communications was the logical step.
I also think there is more money to be made in PR/corporate comm., though I may be a bit outdated there. When I was younger, that was definitely the case. I made about $900 a month as a reporter, and most young PR people were making at least twice that.
The other reason is one that is a bit more difficult to articulate ... but I'll give it a go. Many newsrooms and stations -- especially in smaller markets -- are simply not managed very well compared to corporations or agencies that spend time and money developing proper policies and training managers to handle employees.
"Training managers" must be a verboten phrase in TV news...There isn't any, which can lead to serious problems.
Isn't it ironic that the people who are entrusted with public airwaves, who need the public to trust them, would entrust those same airwaves to people without any management training? Granted, you could make an argument that news isn't like any other business, and I may buy that to a point, but you'd think that training would be a crucial step. I've known managers who were promoted for the simple reason "they went for it."
It's a very frustrating aspect of the business, and while I'm sure there are poor managers in all lines of work, we sure tend to attract some crappy ones.
Rob:
I have several good friends who worked in TV news and they have absolute horror stories about the experience.
I'm sure what they went through is mirrored at stations around the country. You guys could probably share a lot of laughs ... and tears!
I had much the same experience at a small daily newspaper.
Commenting by HaloScan
