I recently graduated from Ferris State University (small town school in Big Rapids, MI) and I hold a bachelors degree in business science. My major: Public Relations. I have friends from the larger schools like Central Michigan and Michigan State whose PR program was either in Arts or Communication and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard them say, “Wow, I really should have gone to Ferris.” I have had classes in management, marketing, accounting, finance, advertising, business law and ethics..AND journalism. I even spent 2 years as the school newspaper’s copy editor.

PR majors should already be excellent writers and communicators! For me, college just enhanced my knowledge of the business world and that isn’t something I could have learned at ANY j-school.

Train the PR majors to work for their companies, not the media.

I do, however, realize that the uncertain future of print journalism has a definite impact on my career path. So, I’m considering entering the PR field after graduation.

Right now, I am enrolled in a PR course and multiple journalism courses. In addition to my sports journalism experience at the newspaper, I also volunteer at the PR department of the university’s athletic department. I can honestly say EVERY DAY that I go to the SAME locations, press conferences etc. with both jobs. The jobs are in direct relation to each other. I see more similarities than differences between the two. That’s why there is such hostility between the two industries. Pink and red are so similar in color that when put together they just clash. Majors don’t have to be identical to be in the same college.

My mother, a dedicated journalist since college, was laid off this year when the newspaper cut her section. A couple months later she was hired by the PR department of a well-respected organization.

The senior associate at the PR department immediately rejected an internship application for one reason: the person applying was a business major. He said he wouldn’t even consider the candidate because the person wouldn’t be able to write well.

With all this talk of PR taking over journalism’s role in providing information, it’s gotta’ make you consider what the public will think: If they think journalism is biased, what will they think of the PR dept. being the only provider of their company’s information?

And isn’t the purpose of PR to present MUTUALLY beneficial relations to the PUBLIC?

While a PR practitioner conveys messages to benefit an organization (more often than not a profitable business), it takes research and clear communication between all stake-holders involved to adequately deliver these stories. And because these messages are primarily for members of the media (with about 50% of all news stories generated by PR folk), doesn’t it make sense that J-schools include PR in their course/degree offerings?

Yes, business schools offer writing courses. I’m not familiar with how these courses apply to getting messages out to the media, so I can only (and ignorantly) assume a majority of said courses teach students about effective internal communications. While I learned how to write internal business documents as a Journalism/PR student (memos, abstracts, plans), a majority of my education emphasized the delivery of messages to key reporters and media representatives.

I agree that converging business and journalism school courses pertaining to public relations would be advantageous, but I reserve the notion that because the PR realm is fixated on media messaging, it’s best to learn the fundamentals of this field in a media-oriented educational environment.

Unless I’m mistaken, most public universities should have fee levels consistent among most degrees. At my university, there’s no difference between the cost of a business class or a journalism class (I’ve taken both).

University-level education is not a business. It’s objective is degree attainment by students from, largely, non-profit institutions. In fact, some disciplines are subsidized by others that generate more income from students. The exceptions of course are the for-profit institutions which ARE businesses, but these are far less common or known than most universities and colleges, which is where most students would attain journalism or business degrees.

-b.

The reason PR professionals will not find a welcome at major business schools is a very simple one – fee levels.

Business education is also a business.

Best
Adrian