George Orwell supposedly* wrote that
“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
- A piece is journalism if and only if someone does not want it printed.
- Orwell does not want public relations printed (as if it were journalism.)
- Orwell is someone.
- Printing a piece (as if it were journalism) is printing something.
- Someone does not want public relations printed.
- ∴ Public relations is journalism.
* Actually, it may have been William Randolph Hearst: “News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.” After all, this is a more useful distinction for a publisher: advertisers are revenue streams, while journalists are expenses.
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