A New Media Age in PR & Journalism

The PR and Journalism industry is constantly evolving... check out this post to make sure you are making the right changes to stay relevant

Over the last few years, the news landscape has changed drastically. While once upon a time we used to obtain our information by reading newspapers and magazines, the technological advances over the last decade have allowed us to live in an internet-based world.

The development, growth, and popularity of social media has pushed consumers – of all industries – to live in a virtual world where technological advances have allowed for the dissemination of information, amplified communication, and mass online consumption through the internet.

As a 22-year-old, I have arguably spent all my years alive adapting to be technologically savvy. This, however, was not the case for everyone. Older professionals, especially in the field of public relations and journalism, recall a time when social media was nonexistent.

In order for me to better understand how social media has changed this industry, I took a deeper look into what the industry used to look like based on what some experts have said:

In a Forbes article, “ The Future of Public Relations – Three Forks in the Road,” Robert Wynne talks about how PR is “a three-pronged fork in the road with three separate directions: Traditional PR, Advocacy PR and Social Media” where the practice of traditional PR has exponentially decreased.

It would be fair to say that Wynne’s opinion is a direct reflection of the effects social media has had on traditional news outlets, especially print. Clay Shirky explains this positioning on Medium.com in an article titled, “Last Call – The end of the printed newspaper.” Despite being published in 2014, Shirky noted in her article that the media environment had changed due to the development of “digital devices and networks” where the practicality of browsing on the internet was more appealing than picking up the morning paper.

“PR has changed dramatically through the ages and will continue to do so. PR practitioners have coped well with this change, especially considering the speed at which it’s affected the industry in the last thirty years.”

― Jo-Ann Coetzee, “How traditional PR has changed—and where we are today”

Without a doubt, the new digital age has changed every industry across the board. However, just like technology, the PR and Journalism industry is always evolving and adjusting. As digital media continues to take over, professionals will need to learn how to transition their traditional techniques and skill to match that of the digital world.

This is not to say that previous traditional practices will disappear, but instead, they will need to adapt and work in conjunction with the digital world… and I am excited to take part in that!