Those journalists again
Philip Young writes in his blog posting “Honest journalist, slippery PRs?” about tensions between journalists and public relations practitioners. What sparked his post is a remark in a Guardian column by Christina Odone who writes that “Journalists are in the business of exposing the truth, PRs are in the business of twisting it.”
I am well aware that public relations has a nasty reputation. Public relations is spin, public relations is disinformation, it is damage control, it is doctoring facts etc. Well, yes, sometimes it is, especially when dealing with politics, but mostly it is getting out your company’s messages, news, and stories and creating or increasing awareness.
Young makes a good observation and writes:
“For journalism, truth, or better, accuracy goes hand in hand with balance. A claim is made and it is tested by counter-claim.”
“So a journalist begins from the assumption that there are (at least) two sides to every story; a PR is paid to present just one side of the story, and present it is as persuasively as possible.”
People practice public relations on a daily basis. Send out a resume and cover letter and you are doing public relations. You are trying to present your side of the story and your message as persuasively as possible. Are you lying or doctoring the facts? If you are wise, you are not, because you probably remember that companies do background checks.
It is quite ironic to think that its own reputation is the public relations business’ greatest problem. Strip away the Karl Roves and James Carvilles and see that public relations just isn’t all that bad. Not worse than journalism anyway.
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