Journalism is "a discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying, and presenting
information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people."

PR is defined as "the art and science of building relationships between an organization and its key audiences."

In an era where everyone can be a publisher (not necessarily a journalist), major publications are increasingly using social media to become more transparent to get closer to their audience. They’re using blogs and podcasts to break down walls and build a closer bond with their publics.

Journalism is no longer a largely one-way medium, but a dialogue. It's a conversation. It's a public relationship, or put another way, public relations.

In the US, the PR industry hit $3.4 billion in 2004 and will grow 10 percent annually, reaching $5.2 billion by 2009. There is a reason for this growth - and an exciting time for  PR. PR agencies are beginning to recognize the need to build transparent bond with the public directly and not just serve as corporate intermediaries.

As more PR professionals and corporations blog, we will increasingly use the medium to co-create build memes with our audiences that openly influence the news. At the same time the media will follow your lead in making the soup jar clearer.

Where does this all lead? Transparency in PR and in journalism means a more open dialogue and ultimately stronger editorial products and services.

The media will become more relevant because it listens and responds to create a better product.

Smart corporations, meanwhile, will become more relevant as well because they will through the assistance of their PR agencies create a more open dialogue with consumers.

The PR and media worlds need to work together to make this happen. Perhaps this means the end of the wall between advertising and editorial.

The end game here is that the rising tide of transparency will lift all our boats.