I can understand why it's important to have a general awareness of what is going on in the world to put PR etc into context, but I'd put more stock into a new graduate employee understanding the concept of social networks or blogging over a knowledge of the classics (And I've read most of them in my university days!)

I always gravitate to people who are keen to learn as much as they can about everything – an essential trait for a journalist in my opinion, and one which I seem to have maintained despite a switch to marketing. But I'm not sure general knowledge is preferable – particularly in an age when online research means it's more important to know how to use tools, rather than what the end result actually is.