What do you call a blog with no recent posts? Actually, I stumped myself. However, I have been quite busy with work and out enjoying the city of Atlanta. My 9-5:30 turned into a 9-7, and then work from home while stuffing my face with Sun Chips (Garden Salsa) and considering trying out for the next season of “Are U the One?”  But I digress…

I do not think I am in a position to mentor anyone right now, but I do try to be as open and helpful to college students looking for internships and jobs. I am not that far removed from the job hunting process. Often I get questions about my job in media relations. More specifically I was recently asked if I would consider getting back into public relations.

Um… hold the phone. Maybe public relations textbooks have changed, but this is the definition that was been burned into my memory from undergrad:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

A great example of one of those publics is the media. Media relations is part of public relations. My primary responsibility is to establish and develop relationships with journalists— journalists and media outlets that that will benefit my organization. Public relations and media relations are not interchangeable, but I don’t necessarily separate them as much as this particular student did.

In fact, I took this media relations position to become a more well-rounded public relations professional.  As I progress in my career, I thought it would be important to have a strong media relations background, as the skills it takes to succeed as a media relations specialist translates well into other PR functions.  I have the opportunities to further development my writing, strategic thinking, and my ability to pitch.

Simply put, I think of public relations as the big polka-dotted umbrella (fine, it can be chevron), in which media relations sits under—serving as an integral part and function of public relations.

I welcome your thoughts.