Is this the problem with journalism…?

Very few things get my misanthropic back up more instinctively than the words “The 100 best…”

My natural and immediate reaction is to start picking holes in the list, whether it’s albums, films, pubs, restaurants or works of art. And that is why people compile such lists, because they want to spark debate and they know people like me can’t help but take the bait.

So it was with interest that I clicked on a link this morning which promised the 100 Best Blogs for Journalism Students.

Now, if you subscribe to the views of Nick Davies et al – and I tend to – then you’ll know something is certainly rotten in the state of journalism. So any knowledge sharing is a good thing, especially if it can instil resistance to churnalism - assuming their paymasters would ever allow room for such principles or luxuries.

So on one level I see such a list as edifying and if it had been ‘100 blogs it wouldn’t hurt you to read…especially if you fancy a job in journalism’ I’d probably leave it there.

But the list is far too introspective and narrow to be in any way a comprehensive list of the influences and influencers journalists should open themselves up to. It encourages the kind of gene pool that would keep Darwin awake nights.

Where are the PR blogs? Where are the lobbyist blogs? Where are the political blogs, pressure groups and civil or human rights activists? Where are the analyst house blogs? And where are the advertising industry blogs whose words of wisdom will tell journalists whether they will have a job next year? All of these things are important for journalism students to understand and all will shape the way they do their jobs.

Yes. Even PR.

I was told some months ago that every single PR course being run by a UK university offers at least one module on journalism, while not a single journalism course offers a specific module on PR and its role and influence on the media. Now I don’t know if that’s true – so don’t repeat it without a heavy caveat – but I’d struggle more with the notion it isn’t true than that it could be.

I know the tendency among journalists is to pretend us PR people don’t exist and don’t influence the media. But the reality is quite the opposite.

Journalists don’t have to like PR people but when did ‘know your enemy’ stop being a good piece of advice?