“Club Highlight” proved too dull last week. Ryan Sexton wrote a feature about PRestige Agency, the University’s premiere student-run public relations agency. I had to reread the article a few times. I was confused about whether the article was highlighting an organization or ranting about the media in general.
What was the actual topic? PRestige Agency? Public relations vs. journalism? Media? Narrow message? What? I received high scores in reading comprehension as a child, but I can’t even understand what this article was about. “The art of shameless promotion?”
What happened to unbiased opinion? What is this about “shameless promotion”? Is it too shameless to write a press release and create a brochure for Hugs Across America, a non-profit organization who donates teddy bears to children who have been through a crisis? I would like to know the shame in helping the Center of Civic Engagement spread awareness about their Earth Day Celebration or for sending out media alerts about the Hofstra MusicFest, one of Hofstra Concerts’ most anticipated event. Should the PRestige staff be ashamed of themselves? If Mr. Ryan Sexton had simply gone on PRestige’s blog-or done any research at all)-he would have found out about the entire E-board, PRestige Agency’s past clients, events and all the hard work put forth on campaigns for both on-campus and off-campus organizations. From an article based on one interview with Ms. Rebecca Carlson, readers were given a confusing, biased, inadequate profile instead of a well informed description of an up-and-coming pre-professional group.
For your information, a media alert is also not something that Ms. Rebecca Carlson created but a common P.R. tool that public relations practitioners write in order to have media outlets cover a special event. Everyone should be able to understand the concept if they have ever written a children’s birthday invitation. Why is it like a birthday invitation? Because it says the “who, what, where, when, and why” for an event.
It was obvious that little research or investigation was put into the article. What about the entire E-board of PRestige? Did Mr. Ryan Sexton reach out to them? Brie Henry, president of PRestige, would also have been slightly helpful to have as a source for the article. (A comment from the president of the club itself, golly-gee).
My first question after reading the article is why it was published when it obviously needed editing. It is a poorly written article, disorganized in thought and investigation, and it does PRestige Agency a great disservice. PRestige is an organization out of the University’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), hoping to help students gain some pre-professional experience. It was my belief that the Chronicle also encouraged professionalism, as well as to write well with unbiased opinion. I may have been misled.
This letter was submitted anonymously by a representative from PRestige Agency.