PR Industry Scandal: The Flak about Flacks?

by jill ~ June 2, 2008

I can’t believe I missed this earlier today.  So, Scott McClellan’s book, which is drawing so much attention, has also brought up the ever-popular subject of the liars that we in the public relations profession are. 

As with any stereotype, it’s usually made by people who are unfamiliar with the industry, because usually they are referring to celebrity publicists (which is whole different ballgame, as far as I’m concerned), high-profile cover-ups (think Oceanic 6). 

Anyway, here’s what went down:

Yesterday, CBS News reporter Andrew Cohen ranted about McClellan’s book and called all PR people liars.

Then, PRSA fired back a letter saying that we’re not.

Then, Andrew Cohen responds to criticism and re-attacks PR people.

Wow!

I can recall only one incident in my public relations career where I felt I had mislead the public; but truthfully, my clients mislead me.  I was working for Enron at the time, and I think you all know what happened there — we were promoting a new product they had coming out that would rate a client’s credit for derivatives trading, etc.  We didn’t know anything was wrong or unethical until the day our clients didn’t call us back and we read in the next day’s paper what was happening.

The difference is that Scott did know he was lying.  How you can do that day after day after day, I honestly don’t know.  I generally take on clients and work that I believe in… so, being the White House spokesperson would never be a good job for me.  Especially in such an environment (time of war), I would think the line of ethics and truth must get crossed one million times a day.  Weighing what you are allowed to tell the public versus actually making things up, well - it’s a job I would never want. 

 Here’s a good article from the Associated Press that talks about Scott’s role within the administration and the lengths the officials would go to keep him and others in the dark. 

Is it Scott’s fault that the Bush Administration lied?  No, but it is his fault for taking a job with them in the first place, or staying for longer than he should have after learning the truth.