NEW YORK (October 28, 2004) – Media outlets continue to make headlines this year. Among the high-profile misdeeds: scandals involving inflated circulation figures; reporter Jack Kelley's alleged deceptions at USA Today; the CBS/Dan Rather memo flap involving President Bush's service record; and allegations of sexual harassment by a female Fox producer against the network's star pundit Bill O'Reilly. Meanwhile, several polls show that the media's credibility continues to erode in the eyes of the American public.

Given this situation, is there a role for PR practitioners to help mend the Fourth Estate's ailing reputation?

"Dealing with the perception of the press is a burden that journalists have to carry," said Ken Auletta during the morning General Session on Oct. 26. "No one is going to bail us out, just as we shouldn't blame anyone else for it. We have to work hard to change that public perception."

Auletta has worked hard through the years, establishing himself as the leading chronicler of the media in the country. As a journalist, he has been the chief political correspondent for the New York Post, staff writer and columnist for the Village Voice and contributing editor at New York magazine. Since 1992, Auletta has written the "Annals of Communication" column for The New Yorker. He has also written 10 books, including "Backstory: Inside the Business of News." The Columbia Journalism Review named him the country's top media critic.

During his discussion, "When News Becomes More Business Than Journalism: Who Wins; Who Loses," Auletta explored the ethical ripples that beset journalism, including vices that he said can be captured in five words: synergy, brand, humility, hubris and bias.

"When we speak about [change] we usually refer to some form of dishonesty. Think of Jayson Blair at the New York Times. Think of Jack Kelley at USA Today. These are obviously serious problems. But these are not part, I would argue, of the ethics problem in journalism today."

He outlined the disparate forces at work in journalism, where journalists feel corporate pressure to rush scoops and create sizzle to beat the increasing competition.

"Big media is more powerful today, and yet it's also more vulnerable. With notable exceptions, journalists are ruled by companies whose leaders rarely come from journalism, and look upon journalists as aliens, which is where the ethical dilemma comes in," he said. "It's the nature of corporate executives to extol things like synergy, profit margins, stock price, lowering walls between divisions, extending the brand, teamwork. This business culture is imposed on journalists."

A clash between the two sides occurs because the journalistic culture is so different from the business culture, he said.

"Journalists prize independence, not teamwork. They prize a wall between the newsroom and the business side of the journalistic entity," Auletta said. "I often see synergy as a form of shilling. [Journalists] don't want cost-cutting, but to open more bureaus to do more investigative reports, to deepen news coverage. Business people abhor waste and want to quantify. Journalists understand waste is inherent to journalism, and good reporting and writing is hard to quantify." Auletta also discussed the importance of PR pros to his work.

"There's no way we can function without PR people," he said. "When I begin a story, I could not even get in the front door without the cooperation initially from public relations."

In addition, he said it's never wise to say "no comment" to a reporter.

"I have this outlandish theory that I actually think people do better by talking with the press. There are two exceptions. One is litigation, and the lawyers tell you not to talk. But, even then, I'd check to see if the lawyers are just being too cautious, which they often are," he said. "You also don't talk to a journalist if you think the journalist is dishonest or is so intent on a scoop that he or she will not hear a word you say. Still, I'd argue that it makes sense to talk to journalists if you think they're really trying to get the story right."