No business has been as disrupted by the disruptive technology represented by the Internet as much as journalism.  A recent report suggests the trend may have slowed, but only when pegged against the 13,500 newsroom jobs lost in the last four years.  Everyone should hope that journalism’s late embrace of digital distribution can turn that tide.

A journalist for whom I have been an occasional source is among the most recent reporters cut loose.  His question now is less about public malfeasance, than it is about the possibility of a jump to public relations.  Quite a few of those who have left newspapers since 2007 have made the move.  In pitching new clients and keeping current ones happy, a public relations agency needs to promote its ability to give a story “legs.”  Former journalists are a good way to do that, although you can find a naysayer or two.

The matter was settled for me 20 years ago in the New York offices of Hill & Knowlton.  A recent emigre from ABC News, Ed Hersh (now at Discovery Communications) was thinking out loud about his first weeks on the “dark side.”  Early anxiety had given way to confidence because he had come to see that public relations people and journalists were both after the same thing:  “A good story, told well.”

Moving from journalism to public relations is far more common now, especially as agency revenues have begun to rise.  In making or taking an offer, the ability and freedom to tell those stories is an essential ingredient in an agency’s recipe for success.  At least that is what I told my pal.