Jay Rosen versus PR Bloggers

NYU's Jay Rosen accuses "PR bloggers" for what he calls "missing in action" in the Armstrong Williams/Ketchum/Department of Education (DoE) scandal.

Julia Hood, editor in chief of PR Week, a trade journal that exploded with Ketchum news this week, wrote on Monday that the Ketchum case "reinforces many of the worst perceptions of the industry and has potential to permanently link the specter of propaganda with the communications profession in the minds of the public." She added, "This is an extraordinarily dismal situation."

Dismal, yes--also incredible--but somehow nearly invisible to PR bloggers, who, aside from a few mentions here and there, have neglected this juicy and far-reaching story. The one exception was Jeremy Pepper's blog, with three posts that counted. He showed up, along with one blogger who is also a player in the industry.

In that last sentence, Rosen is refering to Richard Edelman, who did condemn the whole situation, twice.

Here's my take on it: Rosen should have called out our associations, not the bloggers.

Here's why:

• Colin McKay had blogged about it
• David Murray had blogged about it
• Tom Murphy had blogged about it
• Shel Holtz had blogged about it
• Jim Horton had blogged about it
• Octavio Rojas had blogged about it (in Spanish)
  
• Alice Marshall had blogged about it (and takes Mr. Rosen to task in his comments section)
  
• Shel and Neville Hobson also podcasted about it

And there may be others.

So. What's the takeaway for PR bloggers?

1. Some of us should have reacted to this issue. Myself included.
2. Our associations have been silent/obtuse on this issue.
   

What's the takeaway for Mr. Rosen?

1. A Technorati search is not sufficient research.
2. Maybe an update/correction to that first post is in order?
   

Update: I also missed News Blog / iPressroom. Sorry, no permalinks. Check the January 17th story.

Update 2: I also missed Mediopolis's post on this subject.