Public Relations 1 Journalism 0

Whenever a gang of hoary old hacks gather for a medicinal therapy session the talk will soon turn to how being a journalist is much less fun than it was.

I agree, but I still think it is miles better than having an actual job.

At some point, someone will say that the pressures versus the rewards of the trade are such that they couldn’t recommend hackery as a career path to their offspring.

In fact, they have warned against it

Quite a few of the offspring have ignored this advice, which says something, and not much, for the appeal of more corporate careers.

Two very recent developments put all this into sharp focus, however.

The Press Gazette reports that the University of South Wales is ending its (well thought off) undergraduate journalism course after 20 years. The University of Kent is considering “phasing out” its own degree.

Fewer foreign students since Brexit are a factor, but other courses are plainly unaffected. (Unless it’s Business Studies degrees, in which case everyone who enrolls is affected in the first place.)

The University of South Wales says it has made this call due to a decline in students wishing to study journalism.

If you click that link, you can read that the talent which emerged from that course is not insignificant. (Not insignificant just means significant. I have been reading corporate press releases for far too long.)

In related news, Baylor University in Texas reports that applications to study “Media and Public Relations” have “shattered all-time records”.

The kids in America want to be in PR. The kids in the UK suddenly have fewer routes into journalism.

So I guess this means your team is winning.

At some point the imbalance between the number of professional PR people and the number of professional journalists degenerates into worthless newspapers and a bunch of loonies with no information, contacts, or training shouting their head off on “social” media in ways that are bad for humanity, and impossible to manage from a PR point of view anyway.

At some point.