Crikey.com.au’s infamous and influential website has finally admitted what so many of us already know. Those journalists who make the swap to PR, and then return, make better journalists. “Walking a mile in another’s shoes” has never been so apt.
Stephen Mayne, the admirable media, politics and news commentator, has reviewed the recent shift of Walkley Award winning journalist Hedley Thomas from The Australian (his blog is still visible for the time being) across to the position of external relations manager for Queensland Gas. The coal seam methane producer snaffled Thomas closely after his investigative expose of the Mohammed Haneef case.
Mayne reports that he attended a Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) presentation where Thomas spoke at length about the value and importance of transparency in public relations. Here at Horizon, we’re punching the air with joy. Transparency and accountability lead to credibility. It means only the healthy businesses and corporations survive, and reputations remain intact in times of crises and times where there are none.
Reputation, as has been well written about on this blog and in others, is often a client’s weakest point especially in an era where the two-way conversation of web 2.0 allows accusations to be heard in an instant, cheaply and widely. It takes a brave organisation to keep the door open, and to permit frankness of exchange. However it is these brave organisations which will undoubtedly perservere through the impending economic downturn.
I’m also pleased to learn that Mayne from Crikey also sees the value of PR for journalism. Although he believes we are a “dark art”, he recognises the value that PRs play in supporting and balancing journalists. As David Donohue, the chair of IPRA Australia, commented “hacks and flacks have balanced and vital roles to play in helping our society to know and make sense of what is happening around us”.
The smell of vindication is a little sweet.
posted by Justin Flaherty, MD Horizon Communication Group
Filed under: public relations, social media | Tagged: Crikey, Crikey.com.au, David Donohue, IPRA, journalists, Justin Flaherty, PR, public relations, reputation, Stephen Mayne
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