What if Only PR Pros From Massey Energy Were 'Reporting' On the W.V. Mining Disaster?

That’s a question asked by Bill Sledzik, associate professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Kent State University.

Massey Energy is the owner of the coal mine in West Virginia were 25 miners died this past Monday. The above video from April 2008 shows their CEO, Don Blankenship and his “media relations” tactics. Sledzik is in part responding to an essay from PR blogger Ike Piggot, in which he says future journalists will be operate from within companies and be paid by the company.

Sledzik asks, if PR pros were reporting the news:

Would we have learned about the 100+ safety violations at Upper Big Branch this year alone? Would we know about Massey’s environmental record in strip mining? Would the CEO’s arrogance toward the media have been highlighted? Probably not.

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