PR vs. Journalism: Rematch drew a crowd on April 8

Meg Downey

Meg Downey, recently retired managing editor of The Tennessean, and Andrew Maraniss, partner in McNeely, Pigott and Fox, shared the podium for the second annual “PR vs. Journalism: Five Things I Hate about …” debate on Tuesday, April 8.

Sponsored by the MTSU Public Relations Student Society of America, the event was a light-hearted conversation between a journalist and a public relations practitioner designed to help improve relationships between the two disciplines. Faculty and students from the MTSU School of Journalism and other interested members of the College of Mass Communication and the university attended.

Meg Downey has won numerous state and national awards, including the National Headliner Award, the Fourth Estate Award, the Meeman Award for Environmental Reporting and a Sidney Hillman Award, and in 1997 she was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. She was also the editor in charge the weekend of the Nashville flood in May 2010, the same year The Tennessean was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for its innovative use of social media in its flood coverage. Downey has served twice as a Pulitzer Prize jurist, as a board member of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, and in 2006 she was president of the New York State Associated Press Association.

Andrew Maraniss

Andrew Maraniss joined McNeely Pigott & Fox after spending the previous six years in athletic media relations. He specializes in writing and media relations, working with a diverse mix of clients including CSX Transportation, Hennessy Industries, Ohio Valley Conference, Manheim Consulting, Bravo Gelato and American Home Shield. Maraniss has long provided pro bono public relations support to Nashville RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) and is a past board chairman of the organization. His biography of former Commodore Perry Wallace, the first African-American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference, is titled “Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South” and will be published by Vanderbilt University Press in November 2014.

MTSU PRSSA is the foremost organization for MTSU students interested in public relations and communication. For more information about the organization, see MTSUPRSSA, Facebook and Twitter. TLE