London has several advantages as a financial and commercial centre. Among these are the English language and its location – you can be in contact with the Far East in the morning and the United States in the afternoon. (There’s a strong case in favour of London as the world’s PR hub.)
But does this time advantage lie elsewhere in the asynchronous world of online communications? Has it passed to Australia? I raise this possibility because of the consistently excellent Corporate Engagement blog produced by Trevor Cook and Jackson Wells Morris colleagues in Sydney. (There’s a lot of competition, but it would receive my vote as the most compelling PR blog in the English-speaking world.)
Clearly the credit lies with this team’s energy, connectedness and clarity of thinking. But they have a unique advantage over the many other outstanding PR blogs (to select a few more of my current must-read recommendations, travelling west: Neville Hobson, Stuart Bruce, Kami Huyse, Todd Defren).
They’re a day ahead of the rest of us. They have the advantage of the old-style daily newspaper: we read their thoughts when we’re freshest, in the morning. Does the remoteness of Australia help to foster this output: is a greater value placed on digital communications?
PR Studies 
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot as I’ve posted at Forward over the last few months.
I get home from work and spend a leisurely few hours writing a post, comfortable in the knowledge that I’ll have it uploaded and ready to go (and I’ll be tucked up in bed) by the time it is posted in the US.
However, I share your feelings on the excellence of Corporate Engagement – but being in the same country it updates throughout my work day. Every day, no matter what time you read it, you’re likely to find something interesting through that blog.
Thanks Richard and Paull, I appreciate your very warm plaudits. Personally, I do believe that in general terms change comes from the periphery rather than centre. I think this is true in many aspects of history (I think immediately of the Scottish enlightenment and the Irish track record in literature nobel prizes – Joyce and Beckett changed english literature).
Whether this applies to PR and Australia – I doubt it. I think, however, that it does level the playing field. Down here we felt ourselves a long way behind before the jumbo jet, then the fax, then the Internet, then blogging. All these things have made us feel increasingly part of the big world in the northern hemisphere.(our world cup appearance is helping too!)
I’d really like to see more PR people (including academics) blogging in Australia.
We have some great bloggers down here across all fields and blogging is just starting to get some serious and broader recognition.
One thing we know is that when Australians fall in love with a technology (eg mobile phones) they do so in a big way.
The future is bright for new media downunder.
At JWM, we hope to be on the front of that wave.
I am always aware of the timing issue, being smack in the middle time zone in the US, I am too late for the East coast and WAY too late for the European set. As a result, I often don’t try to break news but to carefully analyze ideas and produce timeless posts. Actually, I try to write my posts more as a resource library for myself. I’m glad you find some of my rants useful.