PR Report purchased by the journalists’ union for undisclosed amount

The union which represents journalists, actors and musicians has made a major play into the public relations space purchasing The PR Report, one of the main newsletters of the PR industry.

The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s (MEAA) decision to buy The PR Report from Glen Frost, who founded it seven years ago, comes after major “turmoil” in the main PR industry body the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), which saw wholesale changes to its leadership earlier this year after then president Terri-Helen Gaynor was rolled and the board resigned en masse.

MEAA spokesman Paul Murphy denied the move was aimed at the main PR body PRIA. “It is absolutely nothing to do with that. This is about improving our offering to members in that space and we have always had members there,” said Murphy. “We’ve always had members in public relations and communications and if anything we have an increasing number of members in that area.

“We are keen to improve our service offering there and our communication with that section of members. We are reviewing our service offering and communications across all areas, and Freelance Pro is an example of that.”