I read this book some time ago, and it really opened my eyes about the ways public relations professionals use the media to control the public discourse. The scary thing is, the best and brightest of these folks go to work for big money, serving rich and powerful corporations.
Exxon has an ad campaign with ethnically diverse employees talking about how gratified they are by their work, obtaining natural gas to meet the public's burgeoning energy needs. That's just a smoke screen to coverup the destructive fracking practices they use to get at underground gas deposits that require the pumping of toxic chemicals into the ground. Ever seen somebody's kitchen water tap catch fire? That's the kind of thing that can happen when fracking contaminates water supplies.
Too often, PR people become bottom feeders, heaping dishonesty on top of dishonesty to sell the company line.
Climate denial is a cottage industry for PR flacks. They stuff their own pockets, while pushing every kind of misinformation to deceive the public about something that should not be in question..
Stauber and Rampton started a group called PR WATCH to shine a glaring spotlight on the shenanigans of the PR business, See the link below...
http://www.prwatch.org/
Wow! That is one of the most close-minded and ignorant assessments of the PR industry I have ever seen. First of all, you attribute an Exxon advertising campaign to the PR industry. PR and advertising are two completely different sectors. Advertising is a paid placement vs. earned placements that PR professionals, like myself, work very hard to achieve on a daily basis. Every large corporation or non-profit organization has a PR department and/or PR agency representation. Personally, I would find it too morally challenging to earn a living representing a cause or company with which my own ethics were not on the same page. As a 25 year PR veteran, I've had the opportunity to work with major pharmaceutical companies & non-profit orgs including the American Caner Society promoting the Great American Smokeout. Yet, you ignorantly group me & my fellow peers in a category of evil doers based on nothing more than our choice to work in the PR industry? And you base this thrawted opinion on one, dark example - an example that actually doesn't speak to the response by the PR department but, instead you incorrectly grouped the PR & advertising departments together. While the PR & advertising departments typically work off of the same message points, they are not one in the same and as such, should not be judged the same. As for the pay PR professionals receive, our apologies for choosing to make careers in an industry that can & does command a high base rate of pay. Based on your (poorly flawed) assessment of those of us working in the PR industry, what do you suggest? That we all quit our jobs for the better good of the moral fabric of society? Are you suggesting that I stop providing my PR skills on a pro bono basis to several non-profit organizations including, HOPE, Inc. - an Atlanta-based 501(c)3 non-profit org that provides financial assistance to single parents working to obtain a college degree &'break the cycle of poverty; or the Vets & Vines Foundation that funds a program designed to assist our disabled Veterans with gaining necessary job skills needed to make the transition from military to civilian life - an often extremely difficult task for our men & women who have served in combat. What an awful, media manipulator I am for volunteering my time & skills to promote such causes, right? Unbelievable. Shame on you.
ReplyDeleteIronically, should you truly want to reach your goal of "a decent, life affirming planetary society," you will, at some point, likely need to employ the services of a PR professional in order to reach said goal. As it is us "bottom feeders" of PR that have the relationships with the media outlets that are needed to secure spread of your message to your key audiences. *smh*
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