The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations conducted the North American Communication Monitor (NACM) to examine the state of public relations in Canada and the United States. The NACM surveyed 1020 communication professionals and found that building and maintaining trust is the most crucial issue facing the profession.

Additional findings disclosed trends and challenges facing the profession:

• Fake news affects the profession, but many organizations are not prepared to identify and manage it.
• Top communication leaders are involved in organizational decision making, but that power is not shared with those lower in the hierarchy, especially women.
• The major threat to job engagement is a lack of performance feedback and recognition, with a significant gender gap.
• Everyone is stressed, but the sources of work stress vary.
• Women and men rate their social media and knowledge management skills differently.

The NACM is part of the Global Communication Monitor series which covers more than 80 countries: similar surveys have been initiated in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America and more 6,000 practitioners working in communication departments of companies, non-profits, governmental organizations and agencies are surveyed in each wave of the comparative study.

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NACM findings
Global Monitor studies