Address at 111: leaving journalism, going PR

It's been long but exciting nine years, sitting at one end of the information world, the journalist side. But professional journalism is a dying old giant fastly becoming a tradition to keep rather than a developing profession. The lines are very vague between what is a news story and what is info-tainment, or panic tactics testing reactions or vaccinations (pun intended).

The balance is becoming far fetched - and more humanly impossible, as the job market becomes smaller. Journalists get lesser paid and more over worked. I felt this as I worked cross national boundaries as a freelance journalist for 9 years - starting with a self-developed, freely distributed student magazine at university, to consequently working for The Jordan Times, Reuters, the Swedish Radio... etc.

I have made the decision to leave journalism for communications/PR, where i'd design and package information for public and private dissemination, through traditional and unconventional channels. Luckily, I won't be selling my soul to the corporate world - I will be working in the international NGO world, with issues related to climate change, and human rights such as water.

My new employer, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), is a leading global organization in this area. They arrange the World Water Week every year, bringing the créme de la créme of the NGO world, multinational organizations, UN institutions, policy makers and the private sector to Stockholm, a city built on water, to push water problems up the global political agenda and find tangible solutions to huge environmental problems related to water availability, quality, and related issues such as dignity, food, energy, sanitation... etc.

Anders Berntell, Executive Director at SIWI, explain SIWI's mission in this short promotional clip:





SIWI is involved in networking and advocating for better living for billions around the world, and works with building capacities in developing nations. I will be helping them to find creative ways to reach a wider audience among policy makers, NGOs, activists, politicians, water professionals and the general public.

Here's what I argued for, a journalist at the time, when I last attended the World Water Week - More social media!



The new job has quite many benefits, beside a fair, good and stable pay, gym card, massages, house parties, fantastic work mates and a wide contact base, I get to sit on a desk overlooking Sergels Torg -- the very atom heart of Stockholm, and my contact post address starts with 111, which sounds prestigious, but also beautiful.

The view from my desk.

I have not yet decided how I will use the blog in the future - but it would probably be a little more politically neutral and environmentally friendly than it has ever been - now I've got to make friends with policy makers, you know!