We’ve heard Colin Farrington’s views on blogs: they’re badly written. (He’s the director general of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.) For the record: I agree, yet this criticism misses the point.
Now he’s using his member magazine column to attack public relations academics for ‘writing in a style that bars the way to busy working people’. Once again, I do agree (though as a public relations lecturer who blogs I might be feeling a bit defensive by now.) It’s not dumb to be clear, nor is it clever to overcomplicate.
I started the PR Books wiki to bring together the best of academic and practitioner texts in some recommended reading lists. And the sources cited are not just books: they’re newspaper articles, web pages and, yes, blogs.
Public relations practice is challenging on many levels, but it’s above all an intellectual challenge. So we need to be open to ideas and receive them from many directions, books and blogs included.
PR Studies 
I have some sympathy for Colin Farrington on this occasion. I read the PR Strategy book in the PR in Practice series a few years ago and found it very heavy going. Incidentally, it doesn’t matter whether your readers are busy or not: you should aim to communicate in a simple, compelling style.
You needn’t feel defensive, Richard: your writing passes the test!
Whilst I agree with Colins comments regarding the use of language, the value and role blogs are beginning to play in PR far out weighs the negatives he outlines.