1. NEWS RELEASE
July 7, 2014
Contact: Whitney C. Douglas, Asst. Account Executive
ACME Public Relations
whitcrobd8_28@yahoo.com, 240.565.1798
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE COMMISSION ON PUBLIC RELATIONS EDUCATION FINDS WRITING
SKILLS TO BE ON THE DECLINE
Entry-Level PR Practitioners Lack the Basic Skills to be Successful in a PR Career
NEW YORK – The Commission on Public Relations Education recently funded an in-
depth study that proved the anecdotal wisdom that writing skills among entry-level PR
practitioners is on the decline.
The study, conducted by Richard Cole, Larry Hembroff and Andrew Corner of
Michigan State University, confirmed the rising level of dissatisfaction among the
supervisors of entry-level PR writers. The study concluded, that individuals looking to
start a successful career in PR will need a significant amount of writing training because
not only are their writing skills subpar, but they are getting worse.
The CPRE study, titled the National Assessment of the Perceived Writing Skills of
Entry-Level PR Practitioners, examined areas such as writing time per week, different
types of PR writing assignments, the complexity of assignments given and the overall
judgment of entry-level writers by PR supervisors.
James Lukaszewski, founder and president of The Lukaszewski Group Division
of Risdall Public Relations, stated that, “The current generation of mass communication
students do not write as well as young writers in the past and writing is one of the
weakest areas of most new college graduates.” The goal of the CPRE study was to
provide hard evidence that opinions of experienced PR professionals, such Mr.
Lukaszewski, about new PR hires’ writing skills were based in fact.
Avery Blakely, Ph.D., member of the CPRE and the Educators Academy said,
“Students are no longer being taught proper grammar, syntax or overall creativity and in
turn the responsibility is falling on their dissatisfied employers or even worse, the student
cannot advance in their careers because they lack writing skills.”

2. Jeneen Garcia, vice president of education for the Public Relations Society of
America (PRSA), commented, “The authors of this important study have established that
the writing skills of recent college graduates entering the PR profession need serious
improvement. I hope now that some light has been shed on the situation, educators and
students can begin to make a change.”
The 2004 National Commission on Writing study found that the cost of
attempting to correct and polish the writing skills of recent graduates entering the
American workforce could easily exceed $3 billion.
About the Commission on Public Relations Education
Since 1975, the Commission on Public Relations Education has presented standards for
public relations education. Its most recent standards for undergraduate education, “The
Professional Bond: Public Relations Education and the Practice,” was released in 2006
and have been adopted by colleges and universities throughout the United States and has
become a point of reference in other parts of the world. The Commission was composed
of public relations educators and practitioners who represented 16 professional
associations and societies in public relations and related fields of communications. The
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is one of those organizations and provides
administrative support to the Commission. Read the full text of the “National Assessment
of the Perceived Writing Skills of Entry-Level PR Practitioners” at www.commpred.org.
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