Can PR programs be all things to all people?
October 11, 2008 by Gary Schlee
In a recent post, Ann Subervi of The Ethical Optimist blog notes that PR Programs Get Failing Grade. Her concern is based on a lack of ’smarts’ she sees in recent PR grads when it comes to some of the basic media relations skills required by her agency.
As tempting as it is to wonder why the agency’s clients are only interested in “Did you get my message out there?” instead of the results of getting out the message, or why agencies tend to lean so heavily on the trying to ’sell’ story ideas, I was more interested in the challenge her concerns pose to PR educators.
The problem is this: how do we adequately prepare PR students for a field that blankets so many working sectors and embraces so many different communication activities? Ann is looking for grads who can talk (or pitch or telemarket) to the media. Other practitioners are looking for grads who can put together a realistic communication proposal or plan, or write compelling copy, or work effectively with printers, or plan and carry out events, or reseach effectively, or … (add your particular need here).
The danger in trying to capture every ‘must-have’ and many ‘nice-to-haves’ in curriculum is ending up with a diluted program that means graduates know a little bit about a lot, and not much in depth about anything.
Many practitioners profess a desire to interview grads who see the big picture and have a sound knowledge of communications planning. In practise, many of them avoid these grads in favour of communicators who can effortlessly ‘do’ what’s needed at the entry level: write the release, churn out the media list, do the media monitoring, publish the newsletter.
So, can PR programs be all things to all people? No, they can’t. Even college programs that concentrate on the applied skills that Ann seeks can’t easily cover it all. I don’t know of any programs that do meaningful role-plays to pitch media. It’s not a bad idea, but an unlikely one if you have a class of 40 students.
The best solution to developing specific skills that match the student’s strengths and interests with the organization’s needs is the internship. It’s fertile ground to help the student get relevant, realistic day-to-day training. The investment of time by the organization comes with the potential payoff of acquiring an employee who fits the culture and has the ’smarts’.
Gary, thanks for your thoughtful response to my post. More internships are clearly needed, but agencies and corporate PR departments need to focus on structuring their programs so that they are meaningful. They also need to do a better job of financially compensating interns. Many qualified students can’t afford to take an unpaid internship. At Utopia, we pay our interns on an hourly rate. The longer they’re with us, the higher the rate. We also require them to attend PD events with our staff, and put together a “look book” of their work for future interviews.
Too many interns are thrown to the wolves with no direction, no pay and no true responsibility.
I absolutely agree with you, better internships make better employees.
Great to hear from you, Ann. Your comment about compensation struck a chord with me. I’ve always felt (as did our program advisory committee when I was teaching at Centennial) that it’s important to reimburse interns when they bring value to the organization. Many workplaces (some corporate, many not-for-profits and nearly all entertainment orgs) tend to view student interns as slave labour. Clearly, a successful internship is based on realistic effort and expectations by all three parties: the student, the supervisor and the university/college.
Gary,
My beef with Ann’s article is this: why are PR skills still being equated to effective pitchs, getting the news release out, churning out that media list (i.e. MEDIA RELATIONS!).
PR is so much more than media relations. But that is another mountain, to be climbed another day.
The reality is this: much of what is taught in a PR classroom needs to be perfected through the internship process. As you point out, how realistic is it to roleplay scenario’s with 40+ students (even our mock press conferences took weeks to organize and present).
At the end of the day, the issue is not the classroom, but the number of practitioners dedicated to mentoring their interns. How many agency interns do you hear of who spend their entire 8 weeks making coffee and doing clippings? This business is about learning through doing, and a great responsibility lies in the mentoring process.
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