Reflections of an Old Timer

The other day I was reminded of a line from Stephen King's popular and lengthy book, "It," in which one of the characters (and I am paraphrasing here) comments that as old timers pass on they are replaced by new old timers." Such an observation speaks directly to the concept of old guard versus new guard, old generation versus new generation, establishment versus up and coming, etc. Such dichotomies represent inevitable contrasts in which each side often looks at similar challenges and/or aspects of life and is convinced their perspective is best. The other side either lacks the experience to recognize the true picture or is far too stuck in their own way of thinking to properly grasp what is going on. Hence an ongoing bumping of heads.

In this old timers versus new old timers scenario, one area such a contrast is often found is communication. In this regard, I point to myself as falling into the old timer camp. (I concede this not necessary as a point of pride but rather as a statement of truth.) A few years ago I wrote a book called "Media Relations in the 21st Century." For a little while it was even used a textbook at various colleges in the U.S. A basic premise of the book was a challenge to strategies currently being utilized by media relations workers to generate more publicity for clients. My idea was that they needed to follow strategies that oldies like me where we would initiate as much face time with reporters as possible. The new comers, I contended, were and are relying far too much on electronic outreach.

While I still believe there is merit to my premise, I can see now that I failed to give as much credence to the new dynamic between the press and media relations types as I should have. This is especially true when one considers the ever-growing emergence of social media as a public relations tool. Yes, face-to-face interaction is important. But the fact is the work-lives of both reporters and media/public relations workers is hardly anything like it used to be. The result is media relations is not as simple as it used to be in my time. As I see it, as an old timer, I need to either step aside for the new old timers or be much more open to their perspective. It is the only way communication as an industry and social science is going to continue to evolve in a positive way.