Journalist pokes his head out into the real world, sees his shadow, and goes back

I just can't get enough of journalists trying to make sense of their relationship to PR.

Today's example comes from Monday's New York Times, where David Carr relates the story of his friend and neighbor, Thomas Moran, who left his thrilling but insecure newspaper job covering New Jersey politics for the safe but dull-as-dishwater world of corporate PR at local utility company PSEG.

At least, that's how Carr characterizes Moran's two worlds. Here's how Carr describes being a journalist:

Sure, being a newsie is a grind...but it beats working by a mile. Every day is a caper, and most reporters are attention-deprived adrenaline junkies who care only for the next story. Journalists are like cops, hugging the job close and savoring the rest of their life as they can.

Let me just say that nothing in my journalism career came close to that experience. It was more like working in an insurance office, people sitting at cubes, working quietly, talking on the phone or typing.

And here's how Carr characterizes Moran's PR job:

"... a good job representing the interests of a large corporation... At neighborhood gatherings, we couldn’t help but notice that the once lively and mouthy Mr. Moran was bringing a dark cloud with him wherever he went...For 18 months, Mr. Moran’s nose was pressed against the glass of his nicely appointed 10th floor corporate office in Newark, watching the world go by, mostly without him.

I'm not going to idealize PR, but I've never felt like I had my nose pressed against the glass watching the world go by in my post-media PR career. To the contrary. I felt like an observer, not a player, when I was in the media, and I feel like a player, and not just an observer, in PR.

The end of the story is that after his miserable time in corporate PR, Moran made his way back to the ivory tower insecurity of the newsroom to get his adrenaline fix.

Chalk one up for the powerful media columnist of the New York Times using precious paper, ink and electrons to prop up and perpetuate the myths of the crusading ink-stained journalist and the zombied PR person. What else would you expect?