Journalism and PR are NOT the same thing. They are nearly the opposite. One is unbiased, the other is extremely biased. I do realize that the lines are being blurred, but we need to keep some sort of integrity in order to maintain trust in what we read. Objectivity is important.

We need disclosure, we need honesty and we need transparency. What we don’t need are posts like this from a local, young PR “pro” who happens to moonlight as a journalist and praises her peers when acting as a journo. It destroys trust, calls into question the person’s ethics and ruins the integrity of the journalistic institution as it should work. We have a hard enough time determining the difference between bloggers and journalists, no need to add PR versus journalist.

In her post, Becky Armendariz praises four colleagues, while anonymously questioning others. While the story comes across from her journalistic side, it switches halfway through by refusing to name names of the poor practitioners, most likely of fear of reprisal within the PR world. This is wrong and it’s dishonest, at best.

What do you think? Can PR and journalism exist within the same person? What needs to happen? What the hell happened to objectivity?

Edit: I like this post of Becky’s too. Very interesting, considering she seems to block anyone she disagrees with. And Diane Wallace, you’re not a journalist.

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