What Public Relations Is - and Is Not

Recently, a book by a former White House press secretary came out. In it, Scott McClellan confesses that he lied to the American public about policy decisions made by the Bush administration. Several weeks after that, CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen made some very disparaging remarks about the public relations profession that basically amounted to "what do you expect? All PR professionals are liars."

I took great offense to that as public relations is a large part of what I do for a living. And unfortunately, Mr. Cohen is not the only person who does not understand what public relations is and is not about. It is not about lying.

Like ANY profession, there are ethical and unethical PR professionals. And there are ethical and unethical employers for which these professionals work. Those folks at the unethical end of the spectrum may indeed use public relations practices to lie.

What PR is really about, though, is communicating information to an audience - the media, the public, shareholders, consumers, etc. For example, no one would know that PlayhouseSquare offers a spoken word poetry program for teens if I did not communicate that through various means.

Now, I don't tell everybody everything that goes on at PlayhouseSquare. Why not? For a few reasons - 1) that's a lot of information; 2) not everyone needs to know everything that we do and 3) not everything would be interesting or important to everyone. But if someone has a question, I or another PR professional on our staff will answer it.

Let me address the topic of "spin" for a moment. "Spin" is a negative term that refers to a portrayal of of an event or situation that is biased in one's favor and is, in my opinion, an utterly ridiculous concept. If I am sharing information about myself or the organization for which I work, why would I not present it in a way that is favorable? We all do it all the time.

For example, let's say you are going in for a job interview. You know that you procrastinate on your work, but in the end, you always get it done on time and it's always quality work. Do you tell your potential employer exactly that, or do you leave out the part about procrastinating? Is it lying if you do?

"Spin" rears its ugly head, though, when crisis situations arise - a cave-in at a mine, tainted food, etc. The best thing to do in these situations is to provide information in a clear and timely fashion - and if someone messed up, the company/person should take responsibility and admit it. Sooner or later, the truth will come out. Unfortunately, some companies try to "spin" crisis situations. This is always a bad idea, and I believe that this is part of what has given a bad name to public relations.

Saying that all PR professional are liars is like saying that all cops are crooked because a few take bribes, or that all rock stars are drug addicts just because a few are, or that all doctors rip off insurance companies just because a few do. You get the point. I hope someday Mr. Cohen does too.

Offended in Cleveland,
Cindi