This just in to the news desk from our affiliate Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Apparently, a very strong answer, to questions raised by celebrity blogger Steve Rubel, has come out of Hohhot, the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia region.

Rubel (pronounced Roo-belle), a senior vice president at Edelman, one of the largest PR firms in the world, is widely credited for having started the debate in the blogosphere as to "Who Should Speak?" on behalf of a company or organization. Rubel said, "Increasingly when big corporate news breaks the community doesn't want to just hear just from the CEO. They want to get the perspective of someone they trust even more, the corporate blogger."

Is the PR Industry's reputation beyond repair? Okay, how about this: Could the reputation of the PR industry get any worse? I can't imagine it. Is it beyond repair? Sure looks that way.

But we’re makin’ money!!

No, I am not talking about the money. There’s also a lot of money to be made in porn and waste management. That’s not it. In spite of the fact that PR in America has been growing strongly and reached some $3.7 billion last year and is forecast to grow almost 9% a year, something’s not right.

On April 8, 1966, Time Magazine ran a cover story “Is God Dead?” It was about a movement in theology then based in part on a book by Gabriel Vahanian “The Death of God” (1961). The main advocates of the movement included the Christian theologians Vahanian, as well as Paul van Buren, William Hamilton and Thomas J. J. Altizer, and the Jewish rabbi Richard Rubenstein. The basic belief was that “modern secular culture had lost all sense of the sacred, lacking any sacramental meaning, no transcendental purpose or sense of providence.”

No, it’s not about the money.