On you second point I partially agree with you. Media relations is only a fraction of the practice of PR. There are the boundary spanning and trusted advisor roles that we play. In this instance though I am referring to the media relations aspect of our role.

Where I differ though is that I don't believe we are better and I don't believe that the world needs more PR people, because what we do, our craft can be distorted and is not always used for good.

In Utopia, you would not need journalists because all companies would be good and so would all governments. Strategic PR is constantly working to build relationships. In Utopia world people don't have self interests.

We don't live in Utopia though and it still needs to balance. That's why we still have the institutions above.

On you second point I partially agree with you. Media relations is only a fraction of the practice of PR. There are the boundary spanning and trusted advisor roles that we play. In this instance though I am referring to the media relations aspect of our role.

Where I differ though is that I don't believe we are better and I don't believe that the world needs more PR people, because what we do, our craft can be distorted and is not always used for good.

In Utopia, you would not need journalists because all companies would be good and so would all governments. Strategic PR is constantly working to build relationships. In Utopia world people don't have self interests.

We don't live in Utopia though and it still needs to balance. That's why we still have the institutions above.

It is a good thing that a fundamental tenet of public relations is serving the needs of an organisation and its stakeholders. That is the only way for mutually beneficial relationships to be formed and sustained.

And that, in turn, is the only way for organisations to achieve objectives such as profit, positive reputation etc.

The world needs PR professionals more than it needs journalists. Not least because PR is about so much more than simply media placement.