FIR Interview: Jack O’Dwyer

Jack O’Dwyer is widely recognized as a voice of influence in, and a critic of, the public relations profession in the United States as well as an observer and journalist focused on the profession.

His firm, The O’Dwyer Company, has been covering PR, marketing communications and related fields for 40 years. The company provides news and information about PR firms and professionals, the media, corporations, legal issues, jobs, technology, and much more through its website, weekly newsletter, monthly magazine, directories, and guides.

In this wide-ranging FIR Interview, co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz engage in conversation with Jack O’Dwyer, addressing topics as diverse as a definition of public relations, the current state of PR, changes in PR and journalism, the role of associations such as PRSA and IABC, and more.

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About our Conversation Partner

Jack O’Dwyer is Editor in Chief at O’Dwyers, the company he founded in 1968. He majored in English with a minor in economics at the University of Connecticut, graduating in 1956. He worked at the Connecticut Post as police and labor reporter until 1961 and then joined the New York Journal-American, then the biggest afternoon newspaper in the US, as a financial writer. Later, he became New York ad columnist for the Chicago Tribune from 1968 until 1972.

While writing for the Trib, he  started the O’Dwyer newsletter in 1968. The monthly magazine followed in 1986 and the website came in 1998. Since 1970, his company has produced the annual O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms, currently listing about 2,000 firms. Odwyer’s also publishes the PR Buyers Guide each January as part of the magazine, listing about 1,000 PR services in 57 categories.

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This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music – On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)