Despite the assertion of a recent ZDNet oped Public Relations professionals will indeed create content. There is no longer a filter for Google News which gives preference to old school media vs. a new school blog – Its all “news.” That goes for The Huffington Post or The Drudge Report, CNBC.com or The Daily Beast.
Trying to build a brand today is like giving a speech in a concert hall while the New York Philharmonic is playing Beethoven. A couple of people on the sidelines might notice you, but can they actually hear what you’re saying? Brands have to create their own content – or they are missing a huge opportunity.
Times have changed drastically. Around-the-clock cable news stations, social networks, newswires, bloggers, tweeters, and “Diggers.” In a sense, anyone with access to the Internet is in media as “citizen-journalists”, so naturally those of us working in public relations will create content. PR folks need to be tweeting, creating trends, and making videos that are able to reach millions within hours.
Pros are competing with or reacting to mommy bloggers, self-styled political pundits writing from their basements; and anyone in the street with a smart phone sending live messages and taking and uploading videos.
Want proof? The world’s most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a top-secret mission. Who broke the news of his death first? A random individual tweeting while on break from “big city” life got the news out before CNN, Fox, or any of the major networks. Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted the following: “So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn.”
Everybody is a journalist now and we’re all in public relations - From civilians on the streets of the Middle East filming a revolution, to bar goers recording Dior designer John Galliano’s racist comments; to mommy bloggers deciding which juice box or diaper maker gets a time-out; broad swaths of the population are taking opinion and news making into their own hands.
The times they are a changing – as to succeed today brands have to work on many different fronts. So yes, expect to see Public Relations professionals need to – and will be – creating media.
Despite the assertion of a recent ZDNet oped Public Relations professionals will indeed create content. There is no longer a filter for Google News which gives preference to old school media vs. a new school blog – Its all “news.” That goes for The Huffington Post or The Drudge Report, CNBC.com or The Daily Beast.
Trying to build a brand today is like giving a speech in a concert hall while the New York Philharmonic is playing Beethoven. A couple of people on the sidelines might notice you, but can they actually hear what you’re saying? Brands have to create their own content – or they are missing a huge opportunity.
Times have changed drastically. Around-the-clock cable news stations, social networks, newswires, bloggers, tweeters, and “Diggers.” In a sense, anyone with access to the Internet is in media as “citizen-journalists”, so naturally those of us working in public relations will create content. PR folks need to be tweeting, creating trends, and making videos that are able to reach millions within hours.
Pros are competing with or reacting to mommy bloggers, self-styled political pundits writing from their basements; and anyone in the street with a smart phone sending live messages and taking and uploading videos.
Want proof? The world’s most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a top-secret mission. Who broke the news of his death first? A random individual tweeting while on break from “big city” life got the news out before CNN, Fox, or any of the major networks. Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted the following: “So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn.”
Everybody is a journalist now and we’re all in public relations - From civilians on the streets of the Middle East filming a revolution, to bar goers recording Dior designer John Galliano’s racist comments; to mommy bloggers deciding which juice box or diaper maker gets a time-out; broad swaths of the population are taking opinion and news making into their own hands.
The times they are a changing – as to succeed today brands have to work on many different fronts. So yes, expect to see Public Relations professionals need to – and will be – creating media.
Written by
Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian is Founder and Chairman of 5W, one of the largest independently owned public relations and digital marketing firms in the United States. Under his leadership, 5W is the AI Communications Firm — building the category around generative engine optimization (GEO), AI search visibility, and how brands earn presence inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.
Torossian founded 5W in 2003 and has scaled it across consumer, technology, financial services, healthcare, beauty, gaming, and crisis communications practices. 5W's research franchise — the AI Visibility Index Series, The GEO Reckoning, and The Missing Rung Report — has become the industry reference for measuring brand visibility inside AI-generated answers.
He is one of the country's foremost crisis communications experts and the author of For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations.
5wpr.com | 5W Research | ronntorossian.com
Work with 5W
5W is the AI Communications Firm, building brand authority across the platforms where decisions now happen — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — alongside earned media, digital, GEO, and influencer channels. www.5wpr.com
Other news
See all
EPR Editorial Team · 05/17/2026
How a Stablecoin Depeg Was Mismanaged in Real Time
Pillar: Crypto & Web3 Communications · everything-pr.com/crypto-web3
EPR Editorial Team · 05/17/2026
The FTX Collapse: A Communications Post-Mortem
The FTX collapse, from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy in ten days, offers a profound study in communications failure. This article analyzes the crucial missteps in FTX's public messaging, the impact of Sam Bankman-Fried's statements, and the lasting lessons for crisis communication and legal alignment.
EPR Editorial Team · 05/17/2026
80 Million AI Citations Just Got Audited — and Most PR Media Lists Are Wrong
A new cross-industry study finds that the publications PR firms have pitched for the last 15 years are not the publications AI engines now reward. The study, "The Trade Press AI Index 2026," analyzes 680 million AI citations and finds that 15 domains own 68% of the AI citation market, a concentration far more extreme than Google PageRank ever produced. The Index outlines five shifts every comms function should execute in the next 90 days.
Never Miss a Headline
Daily PR headlines, weekly long-form analysis, and our proprietary research drops — straight to your inbox.