It’s January. Some of us are still in a post-Christmas slumber; if not actually hibernating, then very close to it.
Then along comes BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, hosted by Andrea Catherwood, carrying a long stick with which to poke the good and the great from their torpor.
If you haven’t heard the programme yet, do so. No rush, it’s there for a whole year.
Unlike Darryl Sparey (see below) I think there’s a lot you could cover in a half-hour broadcast and still make it an interesting discussion. You could mention qualifications, professional bodies, codes of conduct, strategic comms – as well as the topics they actually covered (note: Jerry Hall being arrested for drugs-related offences is not crisis comms, and disrupting court proceedings isn’t clever). Of course, you would then have needed to have at least one person in the discussion group who could talk about qualifications, etc.
And yes, there are joint PR and journalism degree courses these days. Doesn’t mean you’re good at either or have a thorough understanding of either 1 or that such degrees should exist. I’ve made this point previously.
But if you’re going to poke the bear you have to expect some reaction. Here’s a few of the ones I spotted.
- I did a joint honours degree in mathematics and public media, which proves the point somewhat.[↩]