Online Public Relations Thoughts

It is an odd day when the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission comes out publicly to defend the existence of newspapers by calling them a threatened species. It wasn't long ago that newspapers were the key news medium of the nation. I don't agree with the chairman, however. There are many news sources now, and citizens have a choice of which ones they view or read. Newspapers are one element in a broad mix of communications. He does have a point in that newspapers are still the main content generators of local news, but that is changing as newsrooms cut back on reporting staffs. Newspapers won't go away, but they are diminished in importance. It will do them good to fight harder for readers. Publishers had been fat and self-satisfied for far too long. This is one more reason, however, why PR practitioners must be skilled in multimedia.