Mastering the Basics
One semester, I had a news reporting class that covered the basics of well, news reporting. A day into the class, it quickly became apparent that despite how simple and straightforward the class seemed, it was anything but easy. After introductions, my professor passed out the syllabus. At the top, in bold print, it read: AP Stylebook and dictionary are mandatory.
The girl sitting next to me said:
"I'm a PR major, not a journalism major. The computer has spell check, why do I need a stylebook and dictionary?"
It was amazing. A few nodded in agreement while the rest of us tried to conceal our looks of disgust. We might not have had a firm grip on everything grammar, but we knew such a dependency was not the way to go.
Plenty of public relations practitioners could have told that student "spell check cannot save you." They would have explained that blaming spell check is not an option when a client is more than mildly irritated with the mistakes in a release.
They would have told her that journalists will not lend a sympathetic ear when your pitch is a mess of misplaced modifiers, bad grammar and excessive correlative conjunctions.
Neither a degree nor a firm handshake alone will make you a good communicator.
I digress.
As a future public relations practitioner, this internship has only made me more aware of the importance of great basic skills. In this profession, no matter what industry, the ability to provide top-notch public relations demands excellence at the core.
At Eisbrenner, I've had the opportunity to work on various projects that have allowed me to strengthen those basic skills. Press releases, this blog, executive bios and everything else I do here have helped me to realize my weak points, and work on them. Media lists and research have allowed me to learn the ropes when it comes to contacts and finding information that I need.
In any instance, I've learned that public relations people are there to serve the client. We are the eyes, ears and hands of an organization. We are elected communicators, who cannot afford the layman's luxury of solely depending on spell check =)
The girl sitting next to me said:
"I'm a PR major, not a journalism major. The computer has spell check, why do I need a stylebook and dictionary?"
It was amazing. A few nodded in agreement while the rest of us tried to conceal our looks of disgust. We might not have had a firm grip on everything grammar, but we knew such a dependency was not the way to go.
Plenty of public relations practitioners could have told that student "spell check cannot save you." They would have explained that blaming spell check is not an option when a client is more than mildly irritated with the mistakes in a release.
They would have told her that journalists will not lend a sympathetic ear when your pitch is a mess of misplaced modifiers, bad grammar and excessive correlative conjunctions.
Neither a degree nor a firm handshake alone will make you a good communicator.
I digress.
As a future public relations practitioner, this internship has only made me more aware of the importance of great basic skills. In this profession, no matter what industry, the ability to provide top-notch public relations demands excellence at the core.
At Eisbrenner, I've had the opportunity to work on various projects that have allowed me to strengthen those basic skills. Press releases, this blog, executive bios and everything else I do here have helped me to realize my weak points, and work on them. Media lists and research have allowed me to learn the ropes when it comes to contacts and finding information that I need.
In any instance, I've learned that public relations people are there to serve the client. We are the eyes, ears and hands of an organization. We are elected communicators, who cannot afford the layman's luxury of solely depending on spell check =)
posted by Anonymous at 11:10 AM
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