Online Tools Eliminate PR Middleman

A recent Globe & Mail interview with Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, pinpoints blogs as changing the relationship between PR and the media.

“The responsibility of PR people today has grown because we’re not necessarily going through the media as a screen,” said Mr. Edelman, who was in Toronto recently to discuss the company’s survey on corporate trust.

“If we’re just putting stuff up [on the Internet] and people are reading it and accepting it as truth, then we should have a journalist-level quality as our objective instead of a promoter objective.”

Edelman is one of the largest agencies in the world, so it’s interesting to hear how they are utilizing online resources such as blogging to do PR for their clients. The article also talks about a survey the agency performs called a Trust Barometer, to gauge the level of trust people have in academics, PR reps etc. Unsurprisingly, the average person is more likely to trust another average person, hence Edleman placing importance on using blogs to shape public opinion.