One of the first things a person comes to realize when doing PR is if you lie to the press, and they find out, they will never believe you again. In which case, you might as well find a new line of work. If you are working in a field where the press gets to know you and they know they can’t trust you, your effectiveness is over. But concepts like “spin” which really comes out of political PR, a different sort of business, give people the impression that you can’t believe what the PR person is saying.
Cher Merrill, the Vice President of MarCom at Associated Industries asked this question recently… “How would you respond to comments made by CBS Sunday Morning legal analyst Andrew Cohen “The Flak Over Flaks” in which he challenged the integrity of the public relations profession?”
Here’s how Irv Hamilton, our Senior Vice President and founder of our company sees it…
I had an experience this past weekend that made me feel as though I had been insulted by a friend. Not by a person. But a TV show; “CBS Sunday Morning,”
The incident has to do with a segment titled “The Flak Over Flacks,” an opinion piece Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen. He began with comments about the book “What Happened” in which former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes about lying. From there Mr. Cohen launched into a nasty tirade about the ethics of PR, a profession in which I have spent my entire working life.
He said the essence of PR is to . . . “convince people that a turkey is really an eagle. . .” He’s wrong. PR people know full well that you can’t make something be what it’s not. Our job is to enhance what it is. Not pretend it’s something else.
Mr. Cohen sarcastically belittled the code of ethics advocated by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) that calls for truth and accuracy in the information used in PR. He said, “Show me a PR person who is “accurate” and “truthful” and I’ll show you a PR person who is unemployed.” That comment is as insulting as saying that all attorneys — of which Mr. Cohen is one — are ambulance chasers who rip off their clients by charging exorbitant fees for work not done.
Yes, there are no doubt attorneys who work that way. And there are PR people who are less than totally truthful. But during my many years in this business, I have worked with countless PR people. And I can say without hesitation that the vast majority of them have been dedicated to their work, have behaved professionally, and have been committed to being absolutely truthful.
For most people in this business, truthfulness is a matter of professional ethics. And, practically speaking, we know that lies will sooner or later be found out, substantially eroding our credibility as information sources. We know that credibility is the key to a PR person’s success.
At the beginning, I said I felt I had been insulted by a friend. “CBS Sunday Morning” had become a highlight of the weekend for my wife and me. We enjoyed the thoughtful, informative, humorous and beautifully presented stories. We looked forward to the footage of plants, mountains and wildlife that close each show. But, sadly, the nasty, sarcastic, and dishonest commentary by Mr. Cohen will make us think differently about the program.
There is an ironic twist to this. It’s very likely that the content of the “Sunday Morning” benefits from input by PR people who suggest story ideas to producers, coordinate interviews, provide information and assist in countless other ways.
