The boundaries of journalism with PR and politics are set by differences in social purpose/mission. While journalism has the purpose of reporting the truth, through information, analysis, commentary, etc., as well as verification and oversight, PR has the exact opposite purpose of journalism, because officials, spin doctors and influencers have the main purpose of persuasion. While politics, as another nature of social activity, has the purpose of domination through decision-making power.
Alban ZENELI
Journalism is the publication of data that someone else does not want to be made public, Orwell had said. However, beyond this orthodox definition of the function of journalism in society, it has several other functions, such as articulating social problems and needs, setting the agenda, verification, monitoring the powers that be, etc. In fact, with technological changes, the forms of doing journalism have changed, the structure of the content, the forms of collecting data and publishing them to the public, however, the purpose has not changed.
Despite this, some very important boundaries define this noble enterprise in society, especially now, when various content publishers are equal to media outlets and journalists in the possibility of publication and distribution.
In these changes, a group of Austrian professors, led by Uta Russmann, in their research find that the term “journalist” today is much broader than it was 15 years ago. However, in their study they emphasize journalism as a profession, in contrast to Public Relations (PR) and “advertising”, making it clear that the latter two are characterized by a lack of transparency and are “interest-driven”, i.e. not by the public interest. Russmann and others note that the practices of promotional content that resembles journalistic writing and is published on the same platforms, saying that these practices further blur the boundary between journalism and PR.
“These practices blur the lines between PR, advertising, and journalism by using similar techniques on the same platform, making it difficult for recipients to identify the promotional intent behind the content,” Russmann and the other authors of the paper find.
In a digitalized world, where online social interaction is extremely large, and where the boundaries, despite erosion, remain clear between journalism, PR and politics. Discussing these issues, the authors of the book, The Frontiers of Journalismë, by editors Carlson and Lewis, make it clear that the professional norms of journalism make clear the "demarcation" of boundaries with other professions.
These limits consist of, impartiality towards the parties on which the reports are made, verification before publication, balancing the content including the parties of the problem it addresses (does not imply what is known as 'false balance'), integrity of information which is based primarily on the principle of completeness of information, non-promotion of a social activity, if the promotion is not based on facts and does not serve the public good.
By following these principles and other judgments based on ethical and professional standards, the journalist has the goal/mission of publishing the truth. Naturally, along with the right to analyze, comment, describe, stylize, satirize and parody any social development, but making it clear to his audience that he is publishing this type of content that aims to give an opinion, not to inform. That's it, here is the limit.
On the other hand, the PR officer, the spin doctor, the influencer, etc., have other goals in society, starting from the branding and selling of the product, service, or idea, which is rooted in persuasion.
While a PR official provides services behind the scenes, with the aim of improving the public appearance, an influencer does this openly, creating content in the service of improving the company's image, mainly on social media. While the spin doctor's main goal is to turn an unfavorable situation into a favorable situation for a company by drawing attention to 'insignificant scandals'. So, these activities aim at persuasion.
Politics as a social activity consists of the 'art of the possible', which is related to policymaking. But in essence it is about power-the power of decision-making in society. Often this is done by not choosing means and not having an ethics in those decision-making.
In conclusion, the boundaries of journalism with PR and politics are set by differences in social purpose/mission. So, as explained in the book “Journalism Genres”, by author Bajram Kosumi, the purpose of the content is one of the distinguishing elements, while the structure that was once a distinguishing evidence, no longer exists. While journalism has the purpose of reporting the truth, through information, analysis, commenting, etc., as well as verification and supervision, PR has the exact opposite purpose of journalism, because officials, spin doctors and influencers have the main purpose of persuasion. While politics, as another nature of social activity, has the purpose of domination through decision-making power.
(Alban Zeneli is a lecturer at the Department of Journalism, Faculty of Philology at the University of Pristina. He is also the author of many scientific publications in prestigious international journals. Zeneli is a regular columnist at hibrid.info).