PRIA National President Tracy Jones said the title of the Conference was “The New Communicator.” The conference would explore the challenges facing PR professionals in an age where communication was of increasing importance to business…
“PR professionals are increasingly becoming key strategists in organisations, driving business decisions at the highest level,”Jones said.
Like Trevor Cook, I call bullshit on this.
The Public Relations Institute of Australia would like to think PR people are “key strategists” in organisations. But most of the time their job can be done better by a clued up executive who builds their own relationship with the media, and - even more importantly- can actually drive change within his or her organisation to better serve the needs of its users and audiences.
Put out a press release? Sure. Understand their clients, have a vision for how the organisation could better communicate, and persuade leaders to make the necessary changes? Most of the time, no.