If I ask about Gympie, why send me to PR units in Brisbane?

The company line is taking over the world, and making it harder for us to understand what's actually going on.

PR is taking over the world, and making it a much more bland place.

A FUNNY thing happened on the way to writing about Gympie's high welfare rates.

It's that almost nobody could talk about it.

Not that they didn't want to; no, it's just that in many places staff can't comment without permission, and questions have to be routed through media offices first.

As helpful as they are they're often in places like the Sunny Coast or Brisbane - somewhere unlikely to have a finger on Gympie's pulse.

Media units in Brisbane probably don't know a great deal about what's happening in Gympie. Picture: Richard Smith

So instead of hearing about a region's unique issues you run a high risk of getting something less colourful than a polar bear eating rice in a blizzard.

Sadly this is not unique or new, though. Like a white collar creeper vine, PR is taking a stranglehold on society.

Coming out of uni in 2015 we were told for every journalism job going there were five PR ones, and growing. I doubt even rabbits are that prolific.

The PR shadow is slipping into other places, too.

The new Queensland code of council conduct has a fun little line which says councillors must "ensure conduct does not reflect adversely on the reputation of council”.

Unlike participation trophies, reputations must be earned. Picture: Alistair Brightman

But what if a council's reputation is already terrible?

Unlike participation trophies, reputations are earned.

And if this trend continues, we'll end up living in a world where everyone makes lots of noise without actually saying anything at all.