We've been watching the debate(s) raging between public relations workers, mainstream media writers, "A-list" bloggers (and those who are not), guys like Jeremy Zawodny and other guys like Russell Beattie for some time now and it seems like everyone has built up a lot of animosity toward one another. 

 

Where have all the voices of reason  gone that got us started on a very cool, new path?  They're fewer and further apart.

 

Which is unfortunate, because everyone linked to above and anyone else who has something to say seems to be wasting a lot of time talking about what kind of trash they were just pitched, or how this journalist is a complete hack, etc.

 

How about this....what if we brought all sides to the table for some kind of summit on new media relations, or public relationships or whatever you want to call it, and wrote up a manifesto dedicated to helping these crowds all work better together?  It can't be this hard. We've got all the tools, why not the energy and desire to move beyond the sniping and get something done?  

 

Russell Buckley took an early shot at putting up some universal rules; now we should take that concept further and come up with a code for everyone to adopt--from every side of the debate.  If we're all participating in open source journalism (or open source marketing/PR), then why haven't the various forces at work in the community come together for a common cause as in software development?       

 

In software development, open source communities generally have a shepherd to keep everyone on track and helps ratify changes to the code contributors have helped to debug or develop.  That'd be a neat idea for new media relations, but there are just too many agendas to serve for that to work.  But, if there were a common set of rules by which bloggers, journalists and marketing folks have agreed to work within, then we'd all have a level-set to help us move forward.  As in open source communities, this could be a self-policing process. 

 

I'm throwin' this out there for all to take a whack at; does the idea of a new media relations summit make any sense, or is this conversation a waste of time? 

 

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