I have to admit I did something a bit sketchy recently (for the first time, I swear….well maybe the second).

I met a woman at a party and the small talk turned to vocations and I (what a cliché) asked her what she does for a living.

Woman At The Party: I’m in PR.

MS: PR? (of course, I knew what she meant).

Woman: Public Relations.

MS: I have heard that term a hundred times but never really know what it means (I told you I was being sketchy, but hey, I have a blog to write).

Woman: Well, to make it simple (this is where she wanted to call me Rain Man), I place my clients’ stories in the media.

MS: stories? The media? Do you mean you spread viral messages on Facebook?

Woman: I have heard of Face Book, but what is it?

MS: It’s THE media.

Ok, so here’s the problem.

Well, I will leave the conversation now. Instead, I will tell you a brief story. A few weeks ago, USA Today ran a story about an issue I have had with the billboard ad giant Clear Channel. A big story. It was a PR dream. But in what would be a surprise to my party lady, the real dream occurred online. On http://www.usatoday.com/. That’s where a national debate ensued about the story. Where people left their real names. Where the passion lived. And the business opportunity thrived.

So, Murdoch is taking over the Wall Street Journal. And he promises he won’t change it. But he has to and he knows it and the family who used to own it knows it. Because it is yesterday’s fish. Dead and smelly and not edible. People cry about change–that it won’t be the same. That’s the point. People always say they don’t want to change, but in the end are better off for it. Civil rights in America, making Hawaii a state and yes, even changing the size of the WSJ –all were bemoaned at the outset, but made better by those changes in the end.

So party ladies and gentlemen, PR pros all, we have to know, we have to admit, what the people read. And what they will read tomorrow. And that’s the essence of digpr. Actually, soon, now, of PR.

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