I read an op ed in today's SMH online about trust and the media written by SMH owner, John B Fairfax and, while it's not linked to my blog topic higher education, it is interesting because it passionately talks about just how trustworthy and truthful journalists are - particularly compared to the evil three 'Ps: politicians, PR professionals and the public'. It's interesting that Fairfax thinks that the 'public' are manipulating journalists isn't it - that's an awful lot of untrustworthy people isn't it?

Communications theorists would argue that this so called 'manipulation' is simply integrated marketing communications (IMC) and to suggest that politicians, PR professionals and the public are the manipulators and that the media is the great equaliser, is a bit rich. While I'm sure that journalists attempt to practice with integrity and honesty, I'm also sure that many, if not most, of the three Ps do the same. Newspapers are commercial organisations just like the corporations who employ PR professionals and as such are in the business of selling - doesn't such commercial interest suggest that they too would engage some kind of IMC?

Might it be that this system (of operating within guidelines and protecting the interests of the organisation and their stakeholders) that warrants careful and strategic communications planning -the catchcry of PR professionals - rather than the 'hold nothing back' approach sometimes undertaken by journalists and fiercely defended in this article, is the real protagonist? I would argue that this system is in fact the public sphere that we all exist in and contribute to and that journalists, as well as politicians, PR professionals and especially the public, all have their place in it - let's just all get on with our jobs and put the parochial one-dimensional arguments to bed. Read the article, 'Trust, like respect, must be earned, and the media take that job seriously'.