Every few months a journalist publishes a take about how bad PR pitches are. Some are right. But the framing — that PR is the problem and journalism is the victim — has it backward. Both industries are under structural p
Agencies love to talk about awards. Clients pay for results. For twenty-five years I've watched the PR industry confuse the two. Pipeline, citation share, crisis durability, talent attraction, enterprise value. Everythin
Originally published September 24, 2012. Updated June 2026 as part of the founder-voice biographical archive. This is the 2012 founder-voice piece on attending my 20-year Stuyvesant High School Class of 1992 reunion — p
A PR firm manages earned media, reputation, and crisis response for brands and individuals — disciplines that 5W AI Communications has operated since 2003 across more than 1,500 clients. A PR agency executes that work d
Originally published March 2012. Updated June 2026. Landing an op-ed in The New York Times in 2012 was the closest thing public relations had to a coronation. Halley's Comet, as the original 2012 piece on this URL p
The premise of the question is dated. The substance of it isn't. The framing — liberal agency, conservative agency, can one spin for the other — assumed an industry that doesn't exist anymore. Most modern agencies work a
Originally published January 2012. Updated June 2026. Ten PR tips for success, from a 22-year operator. Eight of the ten original rules still apply exactly as written.
Originally published: August 15, 2011 · Updated: June 16, 2026 In August 2011 I had just become a Business Insider contributor and posted a short summer reading list with three titles. All three still hold up. I am rest
Originally published: April 12, 2011 · Updated: June 16, 2026 The San Francisco Examiner ran an editorial in April 2011 attacking the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency for spending $100,000 on an outside PR
PR jobs pay a median $74,750 and number about 314,500 in the U.S., per BLS. See roles, pay by employer type, the 2% outlook, and what employers now want.
Originally published: January 3, 2011 · Updated: June 16, 2026 In January 2011, The Holmes Report — now PRovoke Media — published its 2010 Agency Report Card on 5W. Paul Holmes wrote that 5W was among the most aggressiv
Originally published January 2011. Updated June 2026. "How much does a PR campaign cost?" Fifteen years ago I wrote on this page that the question was like asking "how much is a car" — it depends on