I’ve just sat down to start reading Julia Hobsbawm’s new book, Where The Truth Lies: morality and trust in PR and journalism.
I’m looking forward to a weekend of reading and plan to review the book here too. [DECLARATION: My boss is a friend of Ms Hobsbawm and this is a complimentary copy.]
One thing bothers me though. Call me cynical if you like, but it has just dawned on me there was an awful lot of hoo-hah in the press last month about the validity of Julia’s new PR outfit Editorial Intelligence.
Indeed an open debate raged in the high-brow papers about some of the very issues the book covers. Richard Bailey has some good links on the spat here as does Stuart Bruce there and for some excellent commentary see Philip Young’s post.
Then what happens? One month later Julia’s new book is published…. fortuitous coincidence or deliberate planning?
More to come…
I suspect it’s a coincidence more than a publicity stunt. But you can make coincidences happen by focusing on a particular area – as Julia Hobsbawm has, and as most PR practitioners do on particular campaigns.
I’ve not yet seen this book so I hope you’ll tell us your views on it…
I don’t think there’s any such thing as a coincidence in PR, especially when it comes to launching a new product. I am just getting started on my PR course and suspect I may have come into it with a little too much cynicism but the old ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’ seems increasingly valid in todays society. In the spirit of this I would invite you all to check out my weblog
pr-believethespin.blogspot.com
sorry for the plug simon and I also look forward to reading your review…
No worries about the plug, Samantha. Good luck with blog!
I think coincidences are possible in PR as they are in any other aspect of life… but as David suggests, careful planning and management of a situation can help ‘massage’ coincidences to produce a favourable outcome!
Have a trawl through this site’s archives. There’s been some good stuff posted over the past four months… even if I says so myself!