Monbiot on the media

George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian that the world's media is determined by neoliberalism. He is write to say this because as he quite rightly points out most of it is owned by multimillionaires who use it to project ideas that support their interests. Those ideas which threaten their interests are ignored or ridiculed. How often are trade unions and left wing thinkers ridiculed by newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch and Richard Desmond. Monbiot is also right to acknowledge that neo-liberal terms are regarded as neutral and the media often supports the view that neo-liberalism is the only alternative.

PR degrees and what the industry knows about them

When I went for a recent interview at a PR consultancy in Headingley, Leeds. I was asked if I knew how to write a press release because some of the undergraduates who had come to them hadn't had the basic skills. I found this very patronising and said yes I was trained how to write press releases in PR writing which was a module I was taught as part of my MA. I am wondering how much people in the industry know about the PR degrees that are out there and if they really appreciate the value of one. Many PR jobs that are advertised say that a degree in PR/journalism is not essential. This annoys me somewhat because they obviously don't think that there is a body of knowledge to PR and that anyone can do it and that it is just about writing press releases. Although writing is important to PR I wonder if they realise that PR requires more than just good writing skills and that for it to be taken seriously as a profession we need educated practitioners who understand PR not just people who think it's something to have a go at.

Murdoch's Media

Rupert Murdoch is taking over Dow Jones which will probably mean that another quality publication will go down hill. He has a huge media empire which is hard to compete with but he has said it himself that he wants more entertainment in his media and less hard news. This is a bad thing for the quality of the media and means a "dumbing down" of media standards. It is well known that he owns about 30% of the media and he has been through several editors of the Times since he has owned it. Is it possible to escape the Murdoch curse.