Trade Tips: School’s in Session

Trade Tips: School’s in Session

By Nicole Hayes

Autumn is near and college students have returned to the classroom, possibly reconsidering their career pursuits. An unsettled economy might incite the art student to change gears toward a more lucrative career. Money is good but if one piece of advice can be given on selecting a career, it is: “follow your heart.”

For students considering the ever-changing field of public relations, some elements about the industry will never change. The press release, pitch call, media training and understanding key messages will stay—regardless if something more adept replaces social media or the television. Seasoned media professionals know the atmosphere will change but their feet remain firmly entrenched in the fundamentals of communication. In the zeal and zest for promoting a story or service, new PR professionals should remember these “cover yourself” details:

1-    Always fact check, and check again. Putting forth misinformation is a sure way to ruin your credibility.

2-    Never think a lie is ok. Always operate in ethics, truth. State the facts.

3-    Ask questions to gain clarity.

4-    Operate with your client’s agenda in mind, not yours.

5-    Keep pitching, don’t quit. If an editor doesn’t accept your story idea, it’s likely not your fault.  It happens to all of us, more than once. Fix the pitch or move on to the next.

6-    Find a seasoned mentor who has dodged or stepped on the typical landmines of our industry. Their expertise and gut instincts may help to prevent your misstep.

What other tips would you recommend to newbies?

Intern Diaries: Top 5 PR Blogs

In my previous post Top 5 Book Resources List, I composed a list of what I thought were some of the top resource piece that could help me advance in my career. Now, I am bringing to you my top blog picks (For the record, there are many PR blogs that I like but these are my favorites).  

1.      Bulldog Reporter.com

2.      PR-Squared

3.      The Future Buzz

4.      Davefleet

5.      Measurementmatters

If none of these blogs don’t tickle your fancy, take a look at PR Web Essential Blog List to see which blog may interest you.

Divided We Fall

By T. Braustein

Centuries later, Aesop’s famous quote still holds true, yielding inspiration for unity even as our patriotic sense of community ebbs and flows: “United we stand, divided we fall.”

But our nation is falling.

Children return to school, resuming daily recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance, but the notion of our country being “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” seems illusory at best.

A report released Tuesday shows that the country remains starkly divided in outlook toward one of its most distinguishing qualities: diversity.

According to the report, “What it Means to be American,” only 17 percent of Whites believe discrimination against minorities is a critical issue. Contrarily, 51 percent of Whites believe discrimination against them is as big a problem as it is against minorities. Meanwhile, 42 percent of Hispanics and 53 percent of Blacks believe discrimination against minorities is a critical issue.

In our determination to amend our nation’s past racial indiscretions, have we instead created a setting ripe for vain accusations?

Granted there are grave statistics to support some claims of discrimination – take the recent finding that Black men are more at risk than any other demographic to fall out of middle class, or the report that Hispanics make up more than half of all people sent to prison for felony crimes so far this year, for example.

It’s hard to imagine a country that is truly indivisible, serving justice for all when everyday reminders of our racial differences become negative reinforcements of stereotypes rather than uplifting foundations for growth.

Indeed, just “10 years after September 11, 2001, we seem far less united as a nation.”

Diversity: Seeing in Color

Diversity: Seeing in Color

By T. Braunstein

Do a Google News search for “diversity” and the results are as varied as the word itself implies. But one thing most of the resulting articles have in common is the acknowledgement that for whatever reason, in whichever industry or field being discussed, diversity is lacking.  

Why is that? If so many people, communities and leaders are talking about diversity – more specifically about improving diverse racial representation – why are the results not there?

One answer may be that too many people are adopting a form of enlightened ignorance: The idea that ignoring race equals approaching everyone with equality and therefore eliminating racial bias and discrimination.

It’s not hard to find examples of this – take a look at Forbes contributor Bill Frezza’s response to the recent NIH grant study, for instance. Frezza argues that, among other things, because the “peer-review process is entirely colorblind, with reviewers having no indication of an applicant’s race,” there is no reason to cry foul. Even as he admits that Blacks are underrepresented in the medical and science fields, and that the community “would be well served if many more students graduated high school, went to college, pursued advanced degrees and considered degrees in science,” he asserts that it would be utterly preposterous for the NIH to “fall for” applying such advances as Affirmative Action and other racial quotas to its review processes.

Frezza’s viewpoint, as common as it is, misses the mark in a major and extremely detrimental way. Given the sensitive history of minority populations suffering abuse at the hands of the majority, popular culture’s attempt at making amends by way of strengthening pride in racial diversity cannot be attained by simply adopting colorblindness. Putting a car in neutral after driving it in reverse doesn’t mean it’s all of a sudden moving forward. Diversity must be consciously driven.

True diversity can only be attained through a sincere effort to see and acknowledge race and then act against the abounding disparities that accompany it.

Frezza is right about one thing: it is a downright shame that minorities remain underrepresented in such advancing industries, and the Black community would most definitely benefit if more of its members had access to higher educational and employment opportunities. But that very notion serves to explain why ignoring race won’t do much to mend discrepancies.

How can we expect the members of our minority communities to truly reach equal levels of potential – including receiving government grants and funding – by ignoring the fact that they often begin with an opportunity deficit in many steps along the way?

What do Science and PR Week share in common?

What do Science and PR Week share in common?

For better and worst, both publications have spotlighted disturbing gaps, exclusion and omission of worthy African American professionals in the respective fields of biomedical research and public relations.

Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, published a study revealing that Black researchers are systematically denied coveted NIH research grants, regardless of education, training, citizenship, country of origin and prior research and publication history.  The study found that Black applicants are 10 percentage points less likely than Whites to be awarded NIH research funding. 

PR Week, a stalwart trade publication, churned out a special edition in July anointing “50 PR Power Elites.”  In a field where women dominate, a whopping 39 of the 50 titans were men.  None were African Americans! 

Two of my colleagues, incensed about the bias, weighed in with a strong missive to PR Week editor Steve Barrett.

Where the PR Week and NIH case diverge is in the institutional response. 

Barrett, high-handed and unapologetic, pushed back against criticism by declaring that he never considers race, gender or ethnicity in a selection process.  He went on to define power and influence as the big corporate entities that rake in the largest revenue. 


Switch screens to the NIH. The findings of exclusion brought sober reflection and an acknowledgment that the status quo was unacceptable.

NIH officials pledged immediate action to correct the inequality. "In order to improve the health outcomes of all Americans, it's important for the biomedical workforce to reflect the diversity of the population," lead author Donna Ginther, professor of economics at the University of Kansas, said in an NIH news release." As the population becomes increasingly diverse, we will continue to get further from that goal unless the community intervenes."

PR Week’s Barrett got it right when he said he doesn’t see race. Apparently having the luxury to be blind to color, he sees only people who look like him.  Diversity requires an intentional and focused gaze on race. It demands an embrace of those who are different across a spectrum, and the beneficiaries are not just the once excluded; everyone ends up better off.  I’m left with two questions: Do I cancel my subscription to PR Week? Or start my own “PR Power” list?