Are the Malaysian Public Relations Industry Ready for IT Age?

By Nur Izyan Ismail

This article was taken from the For Clueless blogs

I have been watching the Public Relations industry (PR) in Malaysia for quite a while - more than two decades to be exact. And I have been following the development not within but from outside, as a media person than a practitioner where I would (and did) get the change to connect with and interact with as many PR practitioners in as short a time as possible.

From the days when the IT age was still in its infancy in the mid 80s till today, some 20 years mind you, little has changed although all PR personnel today use computers and not the clanky IBM typewriters their predecessors do in the days of yore. Some of the younger PR person, I suspect, have never even seen an Olivetti Traveller (an indispensable too for journalists on the go) which the IT Age has left behind in the rusty corner of antique stores of today.
Yet, many PR persons today have not moved on in terms of their working habits - you only need to attend press conferences to fathom the frustration I see and the amusement I feel each time PR practitioners dish out stacks of papers wrapped in the unmistakable Press Kit folder.
Sometimes, you might get a CD, happily, but the delight often were reduced to disappointment when the CD is nothing but a company product catalogue or a corporate video - useful but not that really useful if not armed with an electronic press releases and a folder full of digital pictures in various formats for both print and electronic. Some Press Kits even carry the almost extinct 4R photographs or even Kodak Ektachrome slides - don't be surprised.

What the IT use failed to carry through to their PR work I failed to understand. If one uses computers at the office, what is it that when PR officers handle press conference failed to understand that journalists also use computers and therefore a soft copy is more welcomed that stacks of hard copy? If you think I am making a mountain out of a molehill, think again.

I recently was invited to a press conference of a telecommunications company launching a recycling project. When I arrived at the venue, I was greeted by a PR staff and handed over the customary Press Kit folder with sheets of paper within - from the background of the project to the CEO's launch speech. And when it was over, I was again handed a plastic goody bag. And I had just listened to how much the company cared for the environment and would spearhead this recycling campaign
If I had been the CEO of the company, I would have recycled the media liaison person for having such a short foresight. For Pete's sake, wouldn't a CD containing all the information in that Press Kit be better? And cheaper too! If you can, even a thumb drive with your corporate logo emblazoned across, would be more useful as journalists could recycle it after using the content. Why waste paper if you so much as talk about recycling?

If you are a current PR practitioner, I think it is time to think about proper use of IT. Today's media convergence has made the practice of public relations more sophisticated but not necessarily difficult. If you are trained in PR, then the onus is upon you to be at the cutting edge of technology, especially information technology. If not, you will be left behind by the media industry which is also there at the front row.