New PR industry body CEO to continue working as freelance journalist
The newly appointed CEO of the Public Relations Institute of Australia Ray Shaw is to continue to working as a freelance journalist as a “hobby”, he has told Mumbrella.
Last night Shaw was announced as the fourth boss of the association in less than two years.
He today told Mumbrella that he intended to go on working as an IT journalist, writing primarily for IT Wire.
Speaking from a Panasonic launch event, Shaw told Mumbrella: “That’s a hobby. I’m passionate about IT, it’s been part of my life for 30 years and I’ll do some selected stories for IT Wire to keep my hand in and to keep up with technology. IT Wire is freelance so it really comes down to me submitting stories that are interesting.”
Sorry but this sounds dodgy. Ray, come on, you can’t do both!
So fucking what?
Way too much of this thing going on now. It’s rife in Sports Journalism and represents a major conflict of interest.
PR people throw up the spin and a journalists job is to cut through it, the two should be mutually exclusive.