How can I make the transition from Journalism, to a career in Public Relations?

Question

I have a BA in Literature (been out of college 3 yrs now) and have roughly one year of experience as a staff writer at a daily newspaper.
I love my job, but journalism doesn't pay the bills and I have seen some great opportunities in the newspaper lately.
I know that I have what it takes (I could write better press releases than the one's I have been seeing).
Any tips on how to get my foot in the door (not looking for marketing/advertising...thinking more like a small organization, govt, museum, etc).

Answer 1

This should be a very easy transition. I have worked as a PR Director, and I've hired for PR positions. One of the first things I look for is strong writing skills. Your year as a staff writer at the newspaper should give you an advantage over any PR major who lacks writing ability. If you're seeing great opportunities send a well-written resume and follow up with a phone call. In your call, let your professionalism and outgoing personality show. Offer to send some writing samples. You might even write a mock press release for that organization as one of your samples. It sounds like the only thing holding you back is your uncertainty, so I would just say to go for it.

By the way, my degree is in journalism but my first job out of college was PR.

Answer 2

I used to be a journalist but shifted to public relations. I never regretted the decision because I'm doing PR work for a respectable company.

Journalism is a very good start if you want to move to public relations. You will get to learn how the industry works, how editors work, and how you should deal with them when you're already in PR.

Journalism and PR actually go hand in hand. It's just that over the years, some PR people just used it to do dirty work. But public relations is part of journalism and it's even part of the journalism curriculum in many schools.

The basic definition of public relations is doing good and letting the public know about it. That is the essence of public relations. Some bad PR people just muddled the definition and used it in a negative way by defending companies with bad reputation.

PR is also advising your clients how to handle crisis. Example, if there are defective products in the market, a good PR person should advice the client to immediately recall the product and issue a statement that the company remains committed to providing high-quality products. A good PR person will advice the client to face up to the error, admit fault and repair the damage.

A bad PR person will tell the company not to admit anything.

Small organizations, government agencies, etc. will value someone who has exposure in journalism, especially if you worked in a newspaper. They have more confidence in hiring those with journalism exposure because the person would have a better understanding how editors work, what kinds of articles they look for, etc.

Answer 3

I have gone from journalism to PR to journalism over the years, and it's not that different. You are simply writing from a different point of view from the PR standpoint, but you still have to present information well.

The catch might be that you might get in some situations in public relations where you might have to compromise a value or two. I wouldn't call it lying, but it's not exactly presenting the whole truth either. That bothers some people.

Answer 4

Call up the company you're interested in. But ... make sure you let your current editor know if it goes beyond that.