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Public relations:
Misleading the public or letting them lead?
To many anticorporate activists, consumer advocates and media critics, the public relations industry is an insidious manipulator, exploiting powerful relationships with the press and public officials and relying on devious propaganda techniques to orchestrate public perception for the benefit of business and political clients.
Is deceit endemic to the profession or does public relations simply need better PR? PR practitioners are aware of their image, of course, which is why the Public Relations Society of America has a "Reputation Management Division" (see the commentary from one of its members, below). To the pros, the critics totally miss the point: that the purpose of PR is to help companies and governments communicate with — and listen to — the public. PR firms don't just step in to cover up messes, but are increasingly involved in helping shape policy and practice with a sensitivity to the public's concerns. In fact, they say, the practice of public promotion, whether for huge multinationals or tiny nonprofits, is exactly what enables democracy to flourish.
PR's critics often seek publicity, too, so are they just jealous of the good connections and sophisticated techniques of the big guys? Or is this a case of access apartheid, where the powerful have the ear of the press and their detractors can't get calls returned?
Snake-oil hustlers or global diplomats — no one can doubt the power of the PR industry. With the industry bringing in over $3.5 billion in revenue last year worldwide (according to the Council on Public Relations) and growing by over 140 percent in the past five years (PRWeek), we are talking about a major source of public information.
These reports, articles and commentaries from our affiliates and contributors shed some light on the debates and mysteries surrounding PR. And if you fear manipulation by manufacturers of consent, understanding the industry will help defuse its power.
- Aliza Dichter, editor
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Democracy In Danger
To John Stauber, longtime PR industry watcher and critic, public relations has led to the "overall management of public opinion and policy by the few." The highly sophisticated techniques used by PR firms and the high cost of their services, he asserts, create an environment where corporations can manufacture and control public perception. In this interview, he places the blame for this power imbalance on corporations who seek to increase their profits with disregard for the public interest; on PR professionals who practice deceptive methods; and on journalists who are too accepting of PR sources and all too willing to bow to the interests of the companies that pay the bills.
Preserving Democracy
To Fraser Seitel, PR professional and representative of the Public Relations Society of America, PR critic John Stauber is paranoid, angry and way off the mark. Serving the public interest is a fundamental lesson of PR, writes Seitel, and it is good business for corporations to be good corporate citizens. In fact, he argues, it is precisely the communications techniques of public relations that allow ideas to be tested in the courts of media and public opinion, enabling democracy to function. "More often than not, in fact, public relations strategies and tactics are the most effective and valuable arrows in the quiver of the disaffected and the powerless." As for Stauber's claim that most news is undiluted PR, writes Seitel: "I wish." From The Media Channel, July 6 2000
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All In The Family
Sigmund's great-grandson, boyfriend of Rupert Murdoch's daughter and member of a family full of notables, Matthew Freud is not only a fixture in the British tabloids, he's also a professional at shaping what's in them. As head of London's successful Freud Communications PR firm, he evokes another relative, Edward Bernays, the godfather of modern public relations. This profile of England's "PR guru" offers a peek into how Freud uses synergy between clients and exclusive access to big names to excel in what he calls the "art form of controlled media manipulation." From Guardian Unlimited, January 16 2000
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The Birth Of Spin
According to PR historian Stuart Ewen, the origins of modern public relations lie in the radical labor movement and the disaffected middle class of the early 1900s. Corporations needed to protect themselves from the anticorporate publicity of the progressive movement and, following the advice of John D. Rockefeller's PR man, Ivy Lee, their power from being usurped by the masses. At some point PR also became a way to increase corporate power and profits. From AT&T's efforts to overcome antimonopolism and recreate itself as Ma Bell to Edward Bernays' campaign to connect cigarettes with feminism, Ewen reviews what he sees as PR's "illegitimate" history.
From The Media Channel, June 7 2000
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PR: It's A Woman Thing
Since women are still not treated with parity in the business world, perhaps it's no surprise that they're most present in an area considered somehow peripheral to the corporate mission: public relations. Asks Salon's Janelle Brown: Are women able to break into PR because it's marginalized, or is PR marginalized because it's "women's work"? Either way, this may change as the information economy increases the importance of communication and marketing skills — and thus, perhaps, female practitioners.
From Salon.com, December 3 1998
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Happy PR Day!
Thanks to the efforts of PR firms and advocacy groups, the American calendar is littered with holidays of every sort. From Cheese Day (January) to World AIDS Day (December), the year is filled with days, months and weeks dedicated to this, that and the other thing. Special holidays are good PR, since media, schools and other institutions can be encouraged to support tie-in stories and projects. One PR firm, representing the Snack Food Association and the National Potato Promotion Board, was able to boast that sales of snack foods had risen as much as 386 percent in February, once they helped that undersized month become "National Snack Food Month."
From Stay Free!,
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Media Access: Tricks Of The Trade
Activists, consumer groups and critics often condemn PR as corporate media manipulation — but they too can benefit from public relations strategies to get attention for their issues and opinions. When it's done by professionals, they call it PR, but when individuals use media and communication skills to get their story or position out, they call it "Media Access." Check out our Media Access Toolkit: guides, tips and resources from our affiliates on all aspects of publicity, from writing a press release to holding a demonstration.
From The Media Channel, June 7 2000
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Outsourcing Diplomacy
Eloquent, experienced, well-connected — the job description for a diplomat, and who better to fit it than a professional communicator? Governments from all over the world have hired U.S. PR firms to help shape their international image, encourage investment and influence public opinion and U.S. policy. Perhaps this is simply a way for less powerful countries to be heard on the world stage, but critics claim that the power and highly developed techniques of top PR firms are being used to obscure the human rights and environmental abuses of some regimes and to simplify complex issues until the truth is distorted.
From Boston Phoenix, May 27 2000
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THE CRITICS' CASE STUDIES
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PR = Purchasing Regulators?
As the genetically modified organisms debate rages in Britain, the chairman of the U.K. parliament's Commons Select Committee on Agriculture turns out to be on the payroll of the same PR firm that represents biotech giant Monsanto. Gillian Moody denounces the records and business practices of both Monsanto and its PR firm, Bell Pottinger.
From Corporate Watch (UK), October 1 2000
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Rewriting History
As former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's lawyers defended him in Spanish and British courts, he had another team working for his defense in a more public milieu. Pinochet was no stranger to hiring professionals to burnish his image and that of his country, employing crack international PR firms throughout his 17-year reign.
From New Internationalist, July 1 1999
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Media Versus Science
According to a report in the Lancet medical journal, when the tobacco industry feared the results of a major European health study on secondhand smoke, they launched a $2 million campaign to discredit the findings — before they were even released. In many media reports, the ambush was a success.
From Guardian Unlimited, April 7 2000
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AS THE MEDIA WATCH THE WORLD, WE WATCH THE
MEDIA.
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GET YOUR OWN PRESS
The Media Access Toolkit:
Guides and resources for
grassroots PR from
MediaChannel affiliates.
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WAR AS SOAP OPERA
NATO spokesman
Jamie Shea says Kosovo
was "the ultimate
PR challenge."
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HISTORY LESSON
Check out the exhibits at the Museum of Public Relations |
THE RULES
Effective communication
does not include lying,
asserts the Public
Relations Society
of America in this Code of Ethics.
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YOUR TAKE
Brainwashing or public discourse?
Take up the debate in our Forum.
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