Where’d all
the reporters go? That was the question I asked in an email to many of
my media colleagues last week. I was wondering what happened to the
dozens of reporters who were laid off from the Chronicle-Herald in February and from the closing of the Daily News last
year.
It was impossible to track down all the reporters, but the names I
got back reveal an alarming trend: the majority have moved on to do
public relations work, mostly for government.
Sherry Aikenhead is with the provincial Justice Department
spokesperson. Rachel Boomer and Ryan van Horne are with Health
Promotion and Protection. Steve Bornais is with the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans. Richard Dooley, the Halifax PD. Peter Duffy is
ghost writing for mayor Peter Kelly. John Gillis is with Capital
District Health. Dan Harrison with the Department of Education. Beth
Johnston is working for the city of Charlottetown. Kristen Lipscombe is
doing PR for Hockey Canada. Daily News columnist David
Rodenhiser shills for Nova Scotia Power. Jennifer Stewart is premier
Darrell Dexter’s mouthpiece.
Understand that I don’t blame the reporters for finding what work
they can—like the rest of us, they have to feed their families.
“In the newsroom, they’re not valued, and they’re not paid well,”
King’s College journalism prof and Coast senior features writer Stephen
Kimber tells me. “In government, they’re paid better. I talked to one
former reporter who went into government work, and he told me he was
amazed—he did his work and people said, ‘Great job!’ That never
happens in the newsroom.”
Kimber says that while the shrinking newspaper biz is throwing lots
of people out of work, the laid off tend to be older, more experienced
reporters with bigger paycheques, but younger reporters coming out of
J-school are still getting hired. “There are jobs out there—it’s
easier [for young people] to get jobs because they’re cheaper. It’s
almost easier than it’s ever been.”
As Kimber explains it, older reporters have always drifted into PR.
“In most newsrooms you don’t see people over 40, and if you do, you
say, ‘What’s wrong? Why aren’t they in PR?'”
With the shift to PR happening much earlier in reporters’ career
path, we are left with a less experienced reporting pool. We in
Halifax, however, are blessed with an exceptional group of young
reporters—my local colleagues are much better reporters than I’ve
experienced elsewhere.
But for all their ability, there are fewer of them, and so of course
less news is getting covered less well.
The problem is we as a society now collectively value
reporting—the collection and vetting of information—less than we
value public relations—the withholding and spinning of
information.
Some days, I get over 200 press releases in my inbox. And many of
those are “followed up” by annoying phone calls from PR people asking
“if you received our press release.” A press release, of course, is not
an honest representation of information, but rather professionally
manufactured spin. It takes another professional analysis of the press
release and contacting of other sources to build full context and
provide truthful information to the public. It can be a full-time job
just filtering the bullshit. And yet, with disheartening frequency, I
find re-written press releases running as “news articles” in local
publications.
On top of that, it’s damn near impossible anymore to simply pick up
the phone and call a government employee to ask a question—usually, a
reporter is directed through a bloated communications bureaucracy, from
spokesperson to spokesperson; you can almost hear the spin factory
working in the background, as the PR wheels spin out the most polished
response.
Increasingly, there are gigantic gaps in what gets covered by
reporters. And what does get covered is increasingly defined and
controlled by PR professionals. The public, with less access to vetted
information, can less often make informed decisions. Democracy suffers.
Society suffers. And there’s just no spinning the ugly truth.
Related Stories
Public secrets
Duffy haunts City Hall
Peter Duffy to do something or another for Peter Kelly
Victims of the Herald
Council’s secret “public meeting” on tax reform
Council sticks to secret appointments
Analysis: City Hall fails secrecy test
Commonwealth Games investigation part two: where the money went
Commonwealth Games Investigation part one: Halifax 2014 big plans
This article appears in Dec 3-9, 2009.
As someone who works in PR, it’s increasingly hard to find other jobs in PR now because the journalists are all taking them. And in all honesty, there’s a lot more to PR than media relations – which is really the only kind of PR that journalists are equipped to provide. Also, people in PR want you to pick up our press release and find out more information (unless it’s bad news) – we have to keep it pretty darn short to get the media’s attention. As much as I take pride in my writing, I don’t want to see chunks of my press release printed as a story either.
Time to add up all the PR people in each provincial department, school board, health district and municipality.
Then fire 75% of them. Can’t keep running deficits.
All those grads from Kings & MSVU have to find a job somewhere else.
I agree with the comment that reporters (and all journalists, really) are treated poorly in newsrooms. it depends on management though. If they’re d-bags that sets the tone. also, not sure if all jornos are poorly paid. unionized ones at cbc and herald seem to make some coin
Hollah! is exactly right. Hiring a reporter as a communications person is popular among governments, and demonstrates just how poorly the communications function is understood within government overall. I would NEVER hire a reporter into such a job — I need someone who can strategize and advise, not pound out a quick press release.
“Peter Duffy is ghost writing for mayor Peter Kelly”
Good one, Tim.
Hollah touches on the important flip side of this story. People go to school to learn the practice of public relations, from strategic communications planning, to the intricacies of internal relations, investor relations, event planning, media relations, fundraising communications, and a host of other activities one does not learn being a front-line journalist. The two roles are markedly different and it’s unfair to those who spend as much as four years earning a PR degree to then have to compete with a host of people who had a by-line but little to none of the relevant training. It’s a disturbing trend for a lot of reasons – we need good journalists holding the political and corporate worlds accountable and good public relations professionals keeping their clients/employers on the right track and providing professional communications services. They are not and shouldn’t be interchangable and it’s horrifying that the trends in the media business have pushed these talented reporters into an entirely different profession.
As usual, the Coast do not have all the facts. They neglected to speak to PR professionals before publishing this. Graduates of the 4 year public relations program at MSVU plus 1 year of co-op (making it 5 years) would be able to tell them what public relations actually is – when done professionally. Hollah is right. It is actually less spin then some of the material I read in the Coast. I know for a fact that not all Coast writers check with both sides before writing their stories. I believe all journalists should do this. Thank you for allowing us PR people to speak back though. We do not insult your choice of career so why do you continue to call public relations people who hold a degree from a respected university – spin docs? Maybe some of your journalists should apply to the PR masters program at the Mount. It would do them well to upgrade their journalism degrees and educate themselves properly – if they are in fact – filling the positions you have discussed in your article.
You should also check to see where many CBC reporters, both former full-timers, and casual workers…have ended up…
I’m a strong believer that journalism is a trade, like carpentry, that is better learned on the job than in a classroom. Public relations, on the other hand, is best not learned at all.
The previous statement is so stupid, why would you bother to write that down?
While I like the fact that a person whom I consider to be one of the last “real” journalists in Halifax wrote this editorial, I would be remiss if I did not take exception to the line which describes PR as “witholding and spinning of information”
I personally made the move from journalism to communications 27 years ago with a government department. I have never once been placed in the position of witholding information, in fact just the opposite. One of the primary “products” of government is information. It may be science, it may be policy but it is all created in the interest of the public. Contrary to your submission, I would argue that my professional career has been focussed on providing my employer – the Government – with the knowledge experience and expertise to get information to the public, usually through media although that is unfortunately far less important these days. As far as the control goes, reporters generally are not accountable for information after it is in print. In the case of those who work for government, we need to make sure that information provided is accurate and understandable. In some cases health and well being of people may depend on that accuracy. Call that “spin” if you want, but I call it being responsible to ensure the best information gets out.
Not all ex-journalists make good PR people, however some have become outstanding examples of fine communicators working responsibly for the greater good of getting information out to the public. Journalists are trained to tell a good story. PR/Communications professionals are trained to make sure they get the information and tell the best story possible.
The comment “witholding and spinning of information” is indeed proof of why journalists are not capable of filling a PR role. You need education in that field. Expertise in media relations does not even come close to making a person qualified as a communications person. Not even close.
Listen, the fact of the matter is that journalism has existed for hundreds of years. But “communications professionals”, whatever they are, just started cropping up in the last 50. The necessity of six years of “education in the field” to issue press releases and plan events is a fiction created by universities looking for another revenue stream.
The fact of the matter is that communications has been going on for hundreds of years. We are now at the point in time where we know that journalists are grossly undereducated to do the job. If you think all that communications persons do is issue press releases, it shows how little you really know. In any event, a degree in journalism doesn’t even prepare you to do that properly. The only people fooling themselves are the ones who think they can fill a PR slot with a reporter.
People have been communicating, in fact, for thousands of years.
It’s only been in the past few decades that people started to believe you needed a degree in it.
It’s only been in the past few decades that people realized it was a job that wasn’t capable of being done by journalists. Death to stagnation.
Are you saying that your agenda is ever present in your articles Tim? Give me a break! We’re not living in the era of Edward Bernays…PR professionals hold an extensive skill set and meaningful positions in business that help organizations reach out, communicate and remain transparent. Let’s be honest, Tim – their “spin”, as you call it, is equal to your editorializing. There are good and bad PR professionals and journalists alike (and people for that matter). Let’s not paint them all with the same brush!
I think the point is being lost here…I think what Tim is trying to say that the ranks of journalism…which is an important field in society…are dwindling. There’s no point in PR or media relations if there is no meaningful “media” to get the information to. The future of journalism as we know it is what is at stake here…
“The problem is we as a society now collectively value reporting—the collection and vetting of information—less than we value public relations—the withholding and spinning of information.”
I think it’s pretty clear what Tim is saying. It’s also pretty clear why his works for a paper that you have to give away. I think a PR person could actually do this job far better than this ‘journalist’, lol. This is nothing more than sour grapes. A washed up reporter angry a the world that has no interest in hiring him to do a job that he has no ability or education to do.
Amen, Blowmama.
It’s pretty obvious Blowmama has never come across the name Tim Bousquet before.
Over the last few years, Tim has been the hardest-working reporter in Halifax, and has produced a body of work that, for its consistency, thoughtfulness and depth, is to be envied by any journalist working in Nova Scotia today.
pfffffft. He’s just another number, nothing more. Do you honestly think that people must not know who he is, just because we have issues with this crap? His poorly thought out work here, and in other Coast articles speaks for itself. He doesn’t know what PR people actually do, and there is obviously no depth in this article. Call us when somebody is willing to pay for your work. Until then, nobody is envying this junk journalism.
I don’t have a problem with PR people. You PR people have a job, and it’s important job. It’s just not journalism.
The point is we’re losing the people to weigh your work–the journalists. As honest and as much integrity as your bring into your positions, you are, in fact, giving biased information out. That’s OK— we all have biases.
Someone in the comments said that the Coast doesn’t give “both sides” of the story. I’d argue that a story rarely has just two sides, nor that all the various perspectives have equal weighting, or that there’s even A definitive “story”— it’s a complicated world. I doubt seriously that when a PR person puts out a press release about, say, a company entering a new line of business, that the PR person considers the social justice impacts of that line of business, or, if they do consider it, they are not likely very informed about it, because they’re not in that line of work. It’s a journalist’s job to vet that side of the story out– contact people working in non-profits and advocacy agencies, look at reports, etc.
There are plenty of decent, hard-working people who have made all sorts of career choices, including PR. I have nothing against them. I do, however, think that a society that has lots and lots of PR people and very few journalists is one that is not going to get the fullest account. I don’t see how that’s controversial.
Once again the “It’s just not journalism.” comment. Is journalism is supposed to be a higher standard of media?
#1 If you think that PR people are giving out biased information, you are only seeing what you want to see. Fail.
#2. Even in instances where biased information is given out, that’s no different than what journalists do. The Coast is one giant op-ed. That includes your work. So how does your weighing mean something special? You are no different to us.
#3. If you don’t present multiple perspectives to a story, you aren’t much of a journalist. How are WE to weigh a story when you only give one side of it? Nobody is going to take your word for gospel, particularly when you make uneducated comment like the ones in the article above. What’s the use of looking at reports, etc, when you can only see one conclusion? That’s really what’s wrong with most of the Coast’s articles, and now I can see why. That’s just plain terrible.
#4. There isn’t any controversy here, just a lack of understanding on your part.
But of course PR people give out biased information.
-When Stephen Harper’s PR people are answering questions and handing out information to the press, their first (and arguably, only) priority is making their boss look good. Everything else comes way down the list.
-When NS Power applies to the URB for a rate hike, it is the job of their pr people to sell the rate hike to the public. If they argue against the need for a hike, they will lose their job.
-When a particular non-profit is on a pledge drive, whether it be MADD, Feed Nova Scotia, the United Way, etc., the job of their communications people is to bombard the public with the non-profit’s message, and give them reasons why they should donate to their non-profit. If a coporate spokesperson for MADD suggests in an interview that the public’s charity dollar might go further somewhere else, that corporate spokesperson will lose their job.
My last few posts (except for the one defending Tim’s record) have been sorta silly. Of course there is value in communications. If there wasn’t, companies and governments wouldn’t spend billions on it. But Tim is arguing – in an opinion piece, not a news story – that a world with more and better trained PR people and fewer journalists would benefit nobody. Except for the companies and governments who employ the PR people, that is.
Some PR people may give out biased info. See point #1
Some reporters may give out biased information. See The Coast. I don’t see where this line of argument is going. If a said reporter doesn’t do as he’s told by his bosses, he/she will lose that job, etc, etc. There’s no difference.
Having reporters doing PR instead of the properly trained individuals benefits nobody. Akin to seeing a head injury specialist about your bad back. They may both be doctors that have a few things in common, but one is not suitable to do the job of the other 90% of the time.
I’d be interested to hear what the PR people think the role of the journalist is. If journalists don’t “get” PR, then I’m not sure you “get” journalism. This is really sounding like a cats and dogs, apples & oranges scenario.
I’m not PR. I’m also not making bad assumptions about the roles of journalists, in contrast to some of the remarks here about PR.
All I am doing is logically extended the bad reasoning put forth in the comments and the article to show it’s faults. There’s the difference. You don’t need to ‘get’ journalism in order to prove that Tim is way off base about PR.
Well, at least now I know why I’m unemployed.
I can think of at least four journalists (or those trained in journalism, not PR) teaching PR in the BPR/MPR/MAinPR program at MSVU.
While it was nice to get their perspective on PR, and while it was beneficial in a lot of courses they teach (media relations, writing courses), it would be nice to have a set of PR-trained practitioners teaching the rest of the courses the journalists teach because journalism and PR are two completely different entities onto themselves.
And I’m wondering: how often do you see PR practitioners moving into journalism without the required education? I’m kind of curious about the other side of this coin.
Kudos to Tim for this article. Propaganda theorist Alex Carey suggested three major factors in the rise and fall of 20th century democracy: the extension of the franchise; the growth of corporations; and the growth of corporate propaganda to undermine democracy. the PR industry is a key component in corporate propaganda, the reason billions are invested in it every year. Ideally, a journalist’s role in a democratic society is to monitor the centres of power, and to tell the truth about things that matter to the public to enable them to act in a way consistent with their own interests and moral beliefs: i.e. to be informed, engaged citizens. A PR professional gets paid – often by those very power centers – to defend an established interest, which is often diametrically opposed to the public interest. In principle they are mutually exclusive vocations.
One doesn’t blame a young American soldier for the brutal imperial war he fights in. But pretending there is something noble or legitimate about that service just facilitates recruitment, and helps to fuel future invasions. Same with the legions of PR professionals who spin for the world’s corporatocracy. While one can understand and sympathize with the cultural and economic conditions that led them to the profession, most of them – whether they know it or not – are destined to be recruited into the class war being waged by powerful private interests against the public.
Oh the irony! Tim B. and Mr. Kimber–two great NDP PR stalwarts–lamenting that journalists have gone the PR route! Are they jealous that Jennifer Stewart gets paid more for doing the same job (read: Dexter PR) that they have been doing since their campaign to get Rodney MacDonald and the last government ousted (and long before that mind you)? Hilarious!