Dying Newspapers Leave "Integrity Vacuum"

Okay, "newspapers" and "integrity" in the same sentence may already have you laughing.  Let me start by admitting that in recent years, most media outlets have not held to the highest standards of journalism. Political leanings are no longer hidden, and with shrinking staffs true reporting has become rarer than a fedora.

But still, the craft of journalism plays a major role in keeping some level of objective mass messaging in the U.S. and abroad.  Let's face it, when the filter is removed between organizations and the public, everything becomes harder to believe.

This week, the Seattle Times closed, and venerable papers across the country are teetering on the edge of the abyss. And it's not just newspapers, Best Life magazine shudders in May what I'm sure will be a series of glossy periodical closures in the next 36 months.

True, this is largely economic fallout, but there's something more afoot: corporate self-publishing.  As a PR pro, I've been telling clients to bypass the media for years and communicate directly with consumers.  But not until recently has it been so easy: RSS releases with embedded video and links to microsites are our standard form of campaigning these days, not cold-calling media.

True, we still enjoy strong personal relationships with press, especially the lifestyle pubs, and nothing is as powerful as a good hit in a traditional outlet.  But as more and more firms begin practicing PR 2.0 tactics, the balance of objectivity will be severely out of whack.

Good PR folks know that overly commercial messages on the Internet are useless.  But insidious spin can be even more dangerous, and not just to readers.  Nothing will kill a company faster on the Net than dishonesty.

So PR folks turn more to RSS feeds, microsite campaigning, social media PR and even search engine optimization, the entire profession needs to step back and take a long, cool drink of integrity.  

This new Wild West of public relations is a dangerous place. In the past, a curt "no thanks" from a journalist only hurt the ego.  As we wade directly into the waters of public opinion, the rip tide of objectivity will churn with considerably more power and wrath.

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