Making the transition from Journalism to PR

I joke about PR being the “dark side” because I got involved with writing for public consumption on the other end, the journalist’s side. I have written at the Alestle for four years, and my degree will be in Mass Communications, but I find myself inching closer to the dark side, and I have plenty of reasons for this.

I never thought I would be in PR, let alone even a class on it. Early on in life I decided I wanted to write, I wanted people to read what I write and I wanted to go to lots of sporting events for free.

Pretty much all three of those things hold true in PR as well, and because I feel as though my personality kind of hinders me in journalism, PR is an overall better fit for myself.

Plus, I am not opposed to starting out with a higher salary than I would have with years and years of experience working at a newspaper.

My first professional venture into the world of PR is Wednesday. I have an interview with the St. Louis Rams for an internship position in Corporate Communications.

I am excited, as I have seen myself progress professionally to this point, where I actually know what I want to do and have an opportunity to get that first line of PR experience on my resume, and get a pretty good one at that, working with an NFL organization.

All-and-all, I figured I would blog about this just to bring up some conversation, how easy do you think it is for a journalist to transition right into PR? There are differences, but to me it is just about knowing your role, and journalists and PR professionals should be able to just trade hats and vice-versa. It’s the same style of writing with a different mission.

I found these tips to make the switch, but think they may be a little bit over-dramatic. I am hoping it goes seamlessly for me.

Charlie Sheen is winning PR battle

I am sick of Charlie Sheen and really don’t care about the personal life of celebrities, but that is not the way the rest of America is.

Amidst getting fired by CBS and the cancellation of Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen is washed up, beats up hookers, shoots cocaine and a while back accidentally shot one of his wives. The guy is a walking disaster.

Despite all this, Charlie Sheen is finding ways to remain relevant. He is quickly becoming “Chuck Norris esque,” because people view him as unbeatable, and he is so full of himself it works.

Charlie Sheen is quickly trying to turn his antics into something of Legend, rather than the trainwreck it really is. He started a Twitter account and has coined catchphrases, like having “Tiger blood” running through his veins and “winning at everything he does.”

You have to give Sheen credit, because he is winning the PR fight right now. He has the Guiness Record for most Twitter followers in a 24 hour period of time – more than a million. He is also hiring an intern with a similar capacity of Tiger blood, and over 74,000 people applied to run his social media empire.

These PR stunts are amazing to watch, because Sheen has single handedly been able to completely turn his reputation around. People know him for his PR capacity now and winning rather than his crappy sitcom and beating up hookers.

What do you think?