Swimming upstream: PR pros who made the jump to journalism

These journalists bucking the trend to move from newsrooms to boardrooms reflect on their previous careers and offer tips for making a similar jump.

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This shift is not going unnoticed. A recent story from Columbia Journalism Review and ProPublica noted that for every one journalist there are three PR professionals.

Yet some brave writers have bucked this trend, choosing instead to swim upstream. They’re eschewing their jobs in PR for often less-friendly waters in journalism.

“I’ve always been intrigued by publishing, and deep down I always knew I wanted to be a reporter,” says Anna De Souza, who is making the transition from PR to full-time journalism. She began by writing a few trend stories, then started appearing as an expert on TV and radio segments.

“I’m really intrigued by the research, getting the opportunity to speak to different experts, and the puzzle-piecing together of a well-rounded story,” De Souza says.

Though the jump from PR to journalism may not be an emerging trend, it is a career move that De Souza and others have taken.

PR Daily tracked down four of these brave souls to find out how their former careers are helping them as journalists, what they wished they had known as PR pros, and how others can make a similar jump.

PR, believe it or not, is good training for a journalist.

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