Sam Jackson, Senior Account Manager at PLMR Advent and a former news journalist, explains his transition from one side of the media landscape to the other, and why it can be a good career move for a journalist to make.
Every journalist in every sector will have dealings with the PR industry to a certain extent.
Whether that’s asking a police force to comment on a breaking incident, receiving press releases about an agency’s client, or travel journalists organising potential press trips to a particular country, the interactions between journalists and PRs can take many forms.
During my time as a local news journalist at the Leamington Courier for three-and-a-half years, there were many PR agencies or comms professionals who lived up to this description. Several were naïve at best and incompetent at worst due to the bizarre and irrelevant stories I would receive.
Whether it was a frazzled account manager over the phone insisting the piece I was writing ‘wasn’t a story’, or the other side of the coin where a story not in our patch was ‘definitely something you should cover’, I often had a negative perception of the industry.
However, one agency that I could rely on for informed, well-written stories that were genuinely relevant was the former Advent Communications, which is now known as PLMR Advent.
Based in Coventry and staffed by a lot of ex-journalists, they understood what we were actually after, and that ultimately it was our choice as to what we published. This meant I had a good relationship with their staff, and knew that if I received a press release from them, it was always worth considering.
When I was starting to think about the next steps in my career, I looked into a range of options. I knew I was a good journalist, but was there a future in it for me? Should I risk trying to get a London-based job at a national paper, or maybe look into broadcasting?
In the end, I took a punt and moved across to PR after applying for a job with Advent. They were one of the only agencies I’d considered ditching journalism for, due to the fact they ‘got it’.
The skill overlap between journalism and PR is significant – speaking to clients and extracting the story, as well as turning around copy quickly and accurately, is a key skill and it enabled me to hit the ground running at Advent.
Understanding the news agenda of the day and what pushes audience’s buttons is also vital – skills that any good journalist should have.
I even use my shorthand when interviewing clients, although that’s by no means essential to work in PR!
The biggest learning curve during my time at Advent was learning to spin many plates when handling clients, ensuring they all felt equally looked after, and being able to gently push back if a client suggests an idea that you know isn’t going to fly with the journalists you are contacting.
But with the support of my colleagues, I soon got stuck into the fast pace of agency life – which as a former journalist suited me down to the ground. We love a tight deadline!
And after PLMR acquired Advent in late 2021, new opportunities opened up for me, including being part of the Global Communications Alliance which enabled me to work in Canada on a two-week
secondment, and to work with fantastic colleagues involved in the beating heart of Westminster politics in the public affairs team, social media experts in the Digital team, and planning gurus in the Built Environment team to name just a few.
So, should a journalist looking for a new career turn to PR? For the right agency like PLMR, yes. More than five years in, I think it suits me nicely.
