In the last fifty years, the communication professions have seen an unprecedented boom—every organization, even the most discreet, now has to have its own corporate communication. But this irresistible rise comes with a good deal of criticism, and even scorn for the activities undertaken, including from press professionals who see it as a means for obscuring reality. This paper explores the inherent paradoxes of these professions, tracing their history and analyzing the relationships between communication and information to draw out the reasons for the misunderstanding, and even the decline in status—at least in representations—that affect communication professionals.