It’s not so long ago that if you wanted to see what was going on at a conference […]
Month: March 2010
A significant event happened yesterday that embraces freedom of speech, blogging and notions of responsibility for one’s actions. […]
Content summary: Michael Netzley in Singapore interviews Steve Rubel; the Media Monitoring Minute with CustomScoop; News That Fits: […]
It’s less than a week to go before the iPad is released in the United States, on April […]
PRWeek has published the PRWeek PowerBook 2010, a 106-page A5-size book sub-titled “The definitive guide to the most influential people in PR†in the UK.
The publication was launched at a shindig in central London last week, which I went along to. A good time was undoubtedly had by everyone there, according to the photos.
Afterwards, as I perused the book, I wondered how PRWeek came to decide who would be included (in fact, the first question that came to my mind when I was at the event). There’s no mention anywhere in the publication about this, a key point in my view in determining whether something that claims to be “definitive†has any authority to make that claim and whether you would at least give it your attention and perhaps recommend it to others.
I’d not heard of this publication before although I understand it has been published annually since 2007. I wondered how PRWeek determined the ranking order in the various Top 10 lists in the book. There’s no explanation. I guess my intrigue about this aspect was stimulated partly by the fact that I’m included in the Top 10 Digital list, coming it at number 10. How did PR Week determine my inclusion, I wondered. And a fundamental question: what does “influential†mean in the context of this book?
In the introduction starting on page 5, PRWeek makes it pretty clear that this book isn’t intended to be a scientific exercise. All it really says about how things have been arrived at is this:
[…] We have compiled mini-rankings of the key players in each specific PR discipline. These tables have been put together with the help of senior journalists and leading figures in the media and PR industry. […] We do not claim this to be a scientific exercise. It is based on the opinions of the senior figures we contacted, and incorporates the expertise of the PRWeek editorial team.
Some of the contributors are named on page 5, all in the media by the looks of it. That helps some although it makes it no clearer on how I can gauge whether the book is worth giving any serious attention to and whether I’d agree that it’s a definitive guide on who’s influential in the UK PR scene.
So I asked Cathy Wallace, features editor at PRWeek (and project editor for the PowerBook), a few questions about the book. She’s kindly said yes to my request to let me publish our email conversation in this post.
As I write this post, Earth Hour 2010 gets underway off the coast of New Zealand, when the […]
Content summary: Just Shel today; thanks to Tony Molloy for time stamps for episode #536; a pitch to […]
Blocking employee access in the workplace to social networks and other content (and people) on the web is […]
Content summary: PR firm Murray Hill running-for-Congress story update; thanks to Debi Davis for adding time codes to […]
A topic sure to generate commentary and opinion, often passionate, is social media and the pharmaceutical industry. This […]
Discussions during my trip to Berlin, Germany, a few days ago prompted some thought in my mind about […]
For the past few months, I’ve been using a new laptop computer on my travels and when working […]