It is time for the British media to end their unholy alliance with the publicist Max Clifford. Max plies his trade by doing deals and peddling untruths, he says so himself and I have witnessed it at first hand.
If Max wants to be part of the story then his own integrity should come under press scrutiny. During the sad demise of Jade Goody he was ever present but I have never seen him asked or answering the question as to whether his normally substantial fees have gone towards Jade’s estate or the future of her family.
The public relations industry has never been particularly celebrated for its ethics. In fact we PR people are right up there with politicians and journalists in terms of how our honesty is often perceived. To some extent we only have ourselves to blame and in part it is because we allow the line between Public Relations advisers and publicists to become blurred. Public Relations is a strategic marketing discipline, whereas publicity is a rather more straightforward activity that more readily accepts compromise. In some cases both publicists and journalists have gone along with the old maxim to never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
At the heart of the social web is the concept of transparency. The access that it affords should mean we are at the beginning of the end for publicists like Clifford.
Alan Rusbridger the Editor of the Guardian has started to twitter. Along the the Telegraph’s William Lewis he is blazing the trail for major newspaper editors in using the microblogging social network*. It should be of little surprise that he is leading the way. Many of his colleagues at the paper are avid users and the Guardian itself is redefining media concepts. The Guardian is no longer just a newspaper. It is a trusted media brand that delivers audio, video, web content as well as a daily, dead wood and ink edition.
Ever wondered why PR people are sometimes called flacks? No, me neither but come to think of it I’ve dodged some in my time as a PR person and too often from journalists. 
A term frequently used in digital PR circles is ’blogger engagement’. Although many blogs are a form of participatory journalism they tend regard themselves as different from mainstream journalism. Some bloggers are in fact journalists who see blogging as a channel for communicationg their views and opinions directly to the audience without editorial interference.
The rules of engagement for PR people have changed with the arrival of user generated content. If media owners no longer entirely control the content then the principles of PR must change. The Guardian newspaper has been a prime movers in adapting its product on line. The recent attacks in Mumbai proved that at the outset there will always be individuals closer to the action than journalists. The Guardian has made it possible for these individuals to add material and for it to be viewed alongside the work of more conventional journalists. The commentisfree element of the site the newspaper also permits anyone to add their individual views and opinions. The Guardian receives over 10,000 postings a day to their site. This ceding of control by papers means that PR people need to extend their contacts beyond those with journalists. 
Newspapers are in the process of re-inventing themselves as news brands. In the future they will have to provide news across a variety of platforms, as many already do using podcasts and video as well as on-line editions. 
