Ethics and PR is a subject that crops up again and again, especially when crises emerge that hit the headlines in the national press and the industry engages in another period of hand-wringing.

If 2009 was a year of recession and 2010 was one of retrenchment, it's fair to say 2011 was a great year for PR and communications.

Much of the discussion at PRWeek's recent NEXT Conference at The TimesCenter in New York revolved around cementing communications' place at the epicenter of corporations and organizations to ensure it is embedded in top-level strategy and plays a fundamental role in how companies do business.

What are we to make of the Occupy Wall Street protests that broke out in New York City in September and subsequently spread across America and the rest of the world?

Brands are fragile things these days - especially those that have appeared on the scene relatively recently.

If you play devil's advocate and peer into the future, it is possible to paint a scenario where prospects don't look so rosy for PR.

The pace of change in social media channels shows no sign of slowing.

Agencies across all disciplines have been trying to reinvent their operating model for decades.

Acres of newsprint and myriad computer bytes have been devoted to the ignominious episode involving Burson-Marsteller and its abortive attempts on behalf of Facebook.

The subject of diversity in the PR and communications industries is one we return to again and again here at PRWeek.