“A drop in journalistic standards is good if you work in PR,” is something I’m often told by those outside the industry.
The notion is that it will make it easier to get our clients more media coverage if quality drops off.
Honestly, the reverse is true. If journalistic standards are high, the outlets – be they print, web or broadcast – are more credible and, therefore, achieving coverage in them is much more valuable for those of us in PR and who we represent.
It was, therefore, genuinely uplifting for Tom Howell and I to head down to Exeter at the weekend for #SPANC25 – the Student Publication Association’s annual conference.
PLMR was a headline sponsor for the event and our CEO Kevin Craig was hosting a session on how to work with PRs, facilitated by the brilliant Aubrey Allegretti – chief political correspondent at The Times.
I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know too much about the association before the weekend but it is amazing how much you can learn in a short space of time.
Bringing together student journalists from across the country and representing the publications they contribute to is something that ‘didn’t happen in my day’ but, then again, we only had dial-up internet and had other things to worry about such as Blur V Oasis and freeing the Weatherfield One (Google it).
But it was a brilliant day that showed the true power and importance of the association. It began with a very friendly welcome from volunteers and trustees and was followed by Kevin having to field a series of insightful questions during his session.
After that, we chatted to students informally before running a stand during the careers fair section, with the likes of PA, Bloomberg and Cardiff University also represented.
The level of engagement was incredible and for two hours Tom and I had our brains picked with questions on everything from AI through to moving from PR and comms roles back into journalism.
After a brief pause in the afternoon – enough time to find out Coventry had lost and that my horse came nowhere in the Grand National – it was time for the awards.
There were no less than 26 awards to be presented to individuals and publications with dozens of student publications represented in the room.
Again, Tom and I were lucky enough to get on stage to present a couple of the prizes and earlier in the day had seen quite a few of the publications themselves.
The quality was very, very high and was surpassed only by the diverse range of acceptance speeches on the night. Some funny, some emotional and some genuinely heartfelt because of the meaning behind the piece of writing or the body of work that had been submitted.
But each and every one was truly impressive.
The one question we were asked a lot during the day and evening was why PLMR had chosen to sponsor the event. Our honest answer was because it felt like the right thing to do and that brilliant journalism is something that, as PRs, we want (have) to support.
And, if the weekend is anything to go by, the future of journalism in this country is in very safe hands.
