Like any editor trying to roll with the punches in the evolving world of print journalism, Julia Hood of PRWeek faces many challenges: PR bloggers seemingly lurking around every corner; a paid-subscription product trying to attract an online audience that refuses to pay for content; having to deal with interview requests from questionable characters like Media Orchard; and on and on.

We asked Julia about these issues and others, and she was candid and thoughtful in her answers. Here’s the interview:

Media Orchard: How do you think the the emergence of blogs has affected PR Week in terms of readership and revenues?

Julia: Blogs have increased the level of discussion in the PR industry, and that has had a positive impact on the profession. But the PR industry has long needed more voices, not fewer, so the blog community has not impacted our readership in any negative way, as far as I can tell. I don’t have any hard figures to back this up right now, but I truly believe that awareness of our content has grown as more and more blogs link to our site, and discuss — positively and negatively — our stories. I can’t speak about specifics in terms of revenues, but I don’t believe we can point to any drop off that relates to the blogosphere. I’ve also noticed that there has been more pick up of PRWeek stories in mainstream media, which I attribute in part to discussions going on in the PR blog world.

MO: Some blog commentators have suggested that blogs will ultimately make the traditional trade media — across virtually all industries — obsolete. What do you think of this point of view?

Julia: I don’t think traditional trade media is going away at all, but we all have to be smarter about exploiting every possible channel to reach our audiences. In fact, I think trade media that is able to adapt to the changing technology will be even more relevant in the coming years, because it tends to be highly focused on a target market. Focus, specialization, are critical now. So trade media, like PRWeek, needs to focus on what its readership and audience truly needs and wants, and bring that information to them in whatever channel they would like to receive it. The challenge is to do that and help our editorial teams cope with the ever-increasing demands. We are a very busy team here, like many others I’m sure. Change is hard work.

MO: How has PR Week changed over the past couple of years — both in its print and online editions — and what if any of these changes can be attributed to blogs and Web 2.0?

Julia: PRWeek has changed a lot. In the past year, we have relaunched both the website and the print edition, have started updating our website daily, rather than weekly, stopped “holding” news for the print edition except for embargoed stories, and have launched a number of web exclusive elements like columns, podcasts, webcasts, and extended features. Many of these innovations were related to the changing media landscape, absolutely.

The biggest change has been our decision that we can’t “hold” news for some big reveal every Monday morning. This was a HUGE learning curve for me, as I grew up believing in the sanctity of print. Keith O’Brien, our news editor and editor of prweek.com, was instrumental in making me see the light. I remember being on a streetcar in San Francisco the day I realized the absurdity of trying to control the news in that way. It just came to me in a flash that it was impossible, and ridiculous, to hoard information simply for the vanity of print.

I called Keith on my cell phone and told him to go ahead and start posting our news daily. As I told him that day, it was like staring at one of those pictures that just look like a mass of dots, then suddenly you see a dinosaur popping out at you. Only in this case the dinosaur was me! To stretch the metaphor, traditional publishing needs to make sure that it doesn’t become extinct. Survival is not guaranteed anymore. Hopefully that just makes us better at what we do.

Our print redesign last January was not motivated by blogs, but rather by the fact that we had an design that did not allow us to do what we needed to do, in terms of telling stories in greater depth and clarity, and making our features more prominent. But we did expand our media section to better cover the changes going on in the industry.

MO: In Texas, I often hear the complaint that PR Week is New York-centric in its coverage. Is this a valid complaint? If so, what are you doing to address it, and if not, where do you think this misperception comes from?

Julia: We used to hear that complaint a lot and I think it has dissipated over time, thanks to our bureau chiefs in LA, the Bay Area, and Washington DC. We also get out to a lot of markets with our regional roundtables, including Austin and Houston. But I think it is fair to say we do miss some stories in Texas. We used to have a wonderful freelancer there and have not been able to fill that gap. So I do encourage anyone who feels like their news or ideas aren’t penetrating to contact me directly, as well as the other senior editors. All of our contact information is in the masthead.

MO: How does PR Week set itself apart from other trades such as O’Dwyer’s, the Holmes Report, the Bulldog Reporter, and the rest? Have your points of differentiation evolved at all over time?

Julia: I don’t think about differentiation compared to specific competitors, but rather focus on identifying what I think is our principle mission. That is, to report stories that demonstrate how PR is used to help companies meet business objectives. The good news for all PR trades, including us, is that there is a real need for a range of perspectives, and room for all of us to provide critical insights, particularly now.

MO: What do you think are the most important trends and stories you’ll be covering for the remainder of 2006? What about 2007?

Julia: We are looking for case studies of how new media strategies are really being applied in companies to meet business objectives. For all the rhetoric out there, real-life examples are rather thin on the ground. Much of 2005-06 was consumed by stories that crowed about this being PR’s moment. Now we and the readers want to know exactly what companies are doing to harness these strategies.

Integrated marketing, whether at the holding company level or not, is a topic of ongoing interest. We did a piece about Ogilvy and their 360 approach that garnered a lot of interest, but there is a lot more to this subject that we have not delved into, particularly what changes if any are taking place on the budgetary level, and whether or not PR is truly in the position to lead more integrated teams.

I don’t think we can underestimate the long-term impact of the HP story that continues to unfold. Trust is one of those words, isn’t it? It seems like an abstract concept until you lose it. This plays into a larger theme of why it is still difficult for corporations to be consistently perceived as positive global citizens, which is something that I hope we can explore in greater depth this year.

The market is very strong, but there is always an underlying insecurity that one big event or issue could set the industry back once again. As a result, there is still a discernable note of caution in hiring and growth plans, even while the talent battle continues to heat up. The challenge of bringing great people into the profession continues to be a story we follow closely.

MO: How do you come to the right balance over what content to make freely available — so it can create buzz about PR Week in the blogosphere — and how much to provide to subscribers only? Is it an ongoing internal discussion, or do you think you’ve settled on the right answer?

Julia: The publishing world is wrestling with striking the right balance between “free” and “paid” content. It is an ongoing topic for discussion here too. But I can tell you — and let the blogosphere break this story! — that PRWeek will on September 28th be launching free blogs. The primary blog will be populated by our entire editorial team, giving our audience a chance to get to know the reporters, editors, production and art editors in a new way.

We did not rush to blogging, as many of our critics have noted, but there were a number of reasons for that delay. First, we wanted to make sure that our website was strong in its own right, following our relaunch. Second, while we were tempted to enter the blogging fray early on, we wanted to make sure the blog added value to our content, rather than simply regurgitating what we do in print and online already. What we realized is that blogging has a role to play as a natural extension to our current reporting, giving our editorial team an opportunity to have a dialogue on issues that might not ever get reported elsewhere, but still influence PR and marketing. Finally, I wanted to make sure the industry could really use another blog. I truly believe we can bring more to the industry through the blog platform, and it won’t just be a vanity project.

MO: Anything else you’d like to say to the PR bloggers out there?

One of the byproducts of the PR blogosphere is that it has ignited a higher level of debate within the industry. I think this is good for everyone. The profession can be very shy about airing disagreement over key issues, and I think the blog world has opened people up to a range of perspectives in a way that one-way media has been unable to do. I hope bloggers keep challenging the institutions in PR, including us, to do a better job.

One thing I hope to see in the PR blog world is increasing specialization and focus on areas of expertise. Many blogs are quite general, for obvious reasons. But there are insights to be gleaned on a sector level that will continue to be very interesting.