We’ve noted a fair amount about PR arriving at the digital divide, but here’s a piece on BizCommunity.com about the ramifications of actually practicing the craft beyond the new horizon. Ulaysha Sukhu, of Firefly Consulting in South Africa, says the first thing that has to happen is for an executive team to realize that there is, indeed, a new media environment and to accept that reality. 

“Without an organisation that understands this,” Ulaysha writes, “we’re left with tired media releases to over-strained journalists and a list of suffocating demands that can’t be delivered with the fast-dating mechanisms at hand. Getting the organization on side in this new challenge is the responsibility of the PR team…”

There’s also the need to reeducate clients about the differences in digital and for PR firms themselves to understand and provide the new digital skill sets.

“Since changes in how audiences consume news is (are) at the forefront of how people use the Internet ≠ even ahead of how the Web impacts on shopping trends — what is required is not just to adapt. That isn’t enough. What is required is a re-genesis of the public relations machine."

Challenging enough? Digital certainly is. Ulaysha provides more to ponder and apply.