Thursday, August 9, 2007

environmental scanning, internships & PR

So tomorrow our PR Class has a 200 word environmental scan due - apparently it's a lot more complex than it sounds, or at least that's the impression I'm getting. I guess I'm just not putting that much emphasis on it - probably cos I've been on internship for the last month - yes just about wrapping up my time at a PR agency in North Sydney.

I've had such a great time - they've actually made a conscious effort to make me involved and have the opportunity to be partake in clients/activities that I have an interest in. They've got such a variety of clients and you can tell they are really successful in their campaigns, just running through progress in staff meetings show how well and effective the team of PR practitioners are that they have there. Wow that's enough of my blabbing!

There was an interesting article this week in the SMH on PR and spin, an excerpt from a book written by journalist and public relations analyst Bob Burton. Although the article was on the whole pretty critical of the public relations profession, it's fair to take to into account that it was written by a journalist who has clearly done his research. I also found it interesting that the agency mentioned was one that our class visited on our PR excursion last semester.

Next blog: Since I am a new blogger, I think it's a time for me to collate some good sources/links on how to compose and maintain a student's public relations blog.

2 comments:

THE BLOG said...

Yee hoo! Wow I can't beleive you posted to my blog, I was VERY excited! Hehe yeah Frontline ruined any chance of my taking any news shows with any kind of validity.
Are you coming back to Bathurst soon? You will have to show me how to do this blog stuff!
I just emailed Donald my environmental scan and have no idea if I did it correctly.

Can you please pass the word around that Donald is willing to do a class with COM318ers to confirm everything?

Ciao (as Doanld would say), or as I would say Chow.
xx

Mitch said...

G'day Lou,

My dad actually gave me that book recently, saying something along the lines of "i hope this isn't the stuff you're getting into."

Basically, I thought the book was rubbish. From the title you'd think Burton has a big expose on the entire industry... He doesn't.

He just rants about a few companies and mega-corporations (McDonals, big tobacco etc), and takes them as an example of the whole industry. Not only that, but he blames PR people for things that have nothing to do with them, eg the police making conclusions about a case before fully investigating.

I'm only half-way through it, but reading makes me think the guy has an axe to grind.