Monday, March 18, 2013

State of the News Media 2013: The impact on PR and more

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence In Journalism released its State of the News Media 2013 report on Monday.  And it appears that the news media in general, at least in the U.S., continues to go on a download spiral.

As far as the overall impact on public relations, communications, and other related fields goes, it seems that many companies are becoming their own media outlets, dispensing their own news while filling in the gaps left behind by shrinking news coverage, according to prdaily.com.  

If that wasn't enough, a study released by Robert McChesney and John Nichols in 2011 shows that there are more PR people than actual journalists, rising from a ratio of 1.2 to 1 in 1980 to 3.6 to 1 in 2008.  

If you want proof, just take a look at the number of former journalists who are now working in PR these days.  And those numbers are only expected to grow between now and the end of this current decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  As in a growth rate of at least 20 percent before the year 2020. And no, they're not talking about 20/20 vision here.

Oh, and as far as traditional media such as newspapers is concerned, while there's reason for optimism for the first time in a long time, threats to their long-term viability still exist.  Print advertising revenue has fallen for the sixth year in a row last year, by more than seven percent, while digital ad revenue has seen slow growth over the past couple of years.

So, what does this mean for you, the aspiring public relations and communications professional?  It means that while that the media landscape continues to constantly change, and not always for the better, the opportunities to make your mark in an always evolving industry have never been better.  It's up to you to find your niche, and shine.

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Want to know the best majors for a career in public relations?

Here's a hint.  It's not a bachelor's degree in journalism, communications, or even PR itself.  

According to everything-pr.com, the best undergraduate degrees for a PR career are business, English (both are no-brainers here, especially since both require strong marketing and communications skills), performing arts (such as theater), and even computer science (after all, technology constantly changes every day, it seems).

If that wasn't enough, it seems like Yahoo! has been on to something of late, at least as far as "hot careers" are concerned.  It appears that every time you visit the Education page on Yahoo!, public relations specialist or communications shows up on pages such as "Jobs That Aren't Going Away",  "Booming Online Degrees to Switch Fields", and even"Careers for Math-Haters",  just to name a few.

Still, no matter what degree you choose to pursue, learning the proper skills needed to succeed in public relations and other communications-related fields is always worth the time, money, and most importantly, the investment.
 
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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Just how versatile is a communications degree?

Just how versatile is a communications degree from an accredited college or university these days? 

This versatile, according to Yahoo! Education.  In fact, according to a recent post on Yahoo!, communications ranks as the fourth most loved college degree by employers.  Only accounting, the MBA (Master's in Business Administration), and a Bachelor's in Business Administration rank higher than communications.

Why study communications in college?  Because you do so many different things with a degree, ranging from administrative work to advertising, management to marketing, and public relations to public speaking, just to name a few.

Yes, the first thing that comes to mind when people think of communication careers, they think of the obvious paths to pursue: journalist, news anchor/reporter, radio and TV announcer, and even technician, among other professions.

But there's so much more to a communications degree than you might think.  It's up to you find out what the possibilities are, especially in the most competitive job market in quite some time.

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