Bridging the writing gap between student and professional: Analyzing writing education in public relations and journalism

The public relations industry expects graduates to be proficient at writing yet industry professionals still complain public relations graduates lack basic writing skills. By contrast, journalism graduates do not seem to experience the same criticisms. Using a pedagogical framework of student attainment, this study investigates public relations and journalism writing courses across 30 university courses to identify differences between the two disciplines, and implications for public relations writing education. The findings suggest public relations writing courses should adopt a bridging curriculum to support students to develop their writing skills in limited genres using authentic assessment. Strategic considerations should be covered in more advanced courses once the basic skills of public relations writing have been mastered.