What I accurately mean is that the value of the good PR person has changed or diminished. Or perhaps that his/her role is strategic, and not tactical anymore. You can make a case for the need for strategic advice, but never for clipping services anymore.

With love and respect.

I respectfully and completely disagree. The PR business and the PR person is alive and thriving, and will continue to flourish. Which is as it should be.

The mechanics of composition can be made easier and even partially automated through technology but the art and science of good writing will never be done by software, web-based or otherwise.

Getting press releases published is one thing. Getting people to listen and take action is, as you know, a whole different ballgame.

Google News is an awesome thing. I love the time I spend with it – on the site and through multiple RSS feeds – every day. But it has not and will not replace clipping services. It can only index what newspaper publishers post to the web, and in the case of most newspapers, that’s less than what’s in the hard copy edition.

And throwing away the Rolodex to replace it with search? I wouldn’t dare. Yes, smart and innovative reporters are establishing a bigger presence online, but if I need the cell phone of an old-school editorial page editor at a rural weekly or the home fax number for USA Today’s environmental reporter, I’m probably not going to find it on Google. Plus, it’s not just the number that counts. A good PR person brings the Rolodex AND the pre-established relationship with the reporter which help makes getting stories published oh so much easier, as you know.

It’s chic to say newspapers and PR are dead. It’s also false. Both will still be here in 20 years.