Excuse me, you can write, right?

Yesterday at work I was asked by the newly promoted boss, ''I assume you can write a press release?''

I was initially insulted. It's like PR 101 - like asking Naomi Campbell- ''you can sashay down the catwalk''?

Then I became ''so very understanding''. In this day and age of deception, of outsourcing, and of ''farming out'', it's not at all surprising those purporting to be PR practitioners can't write to save their lives.

Many fellow practitioners have told me horror stories of their bosses who are paid very handsomely and came with big fancy titles but who could not write. And in the civil service, they call you ''senior PR manager'' even though you are a fresh grad, just because you have a ''betterer'' piece of paper qualification compared to ''just a basic degree''. Some recruiters even told me that they have placed candidates who claimed to be PR managers, but who could not write. Imagine their embarrassment, and possibly loss of future business!

Malaysia actually wanted to ‘’certify’’/ ‘’register’’ PR practitioners the way lawyers, doctors and financial advisors are ‘’certified’’. Sadly, this movement was violently opposed, by none other than ‘’PR practitioners’’ themselves.