Recently, the New Zealand Herald published an article titled ‘Confessions of a spin doctor for the world’s worst people’. Our director, Heather, made some great points in her recent LinkedIn post that explained the difference between PR and propaganda. This got me thinking about my own career in PR and how vastly different my experience has been from Phil Elwood’s – the person the article was written about – and why.
I earned a Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from Wintec over 20 years ago. One of my tutors during that time was Max Christoffersen.
During a lecture, Max explained that a PR practitioner should be the ‘critic and conscience’ of the company they are working for or representing. This notion has stuck with me throughout my entire career. Sadly, Max passed away in 2019, and I wish I could talk with him about this today.
Adopting the role of ‘critic and conscience’ for the companies I’ve worked for has always served me well, particularly in crisis communications. It’s never about ‘spinning’ the truth, and no PR practitioner with integrity would be comfortable with that.
After his time at Wintec, Max also worked as a journalist for the Waikato Times. I know that journalists and PR practitioners are often said to have a tricky, mistrustful relationship. I have no doubt that Max brought the same level of integrity to journalism that he did to PR, and his example has always guided my interactions with clients, colleagues, and journalists alike.
As individuals, we all have a line in the sand to draw in terms of our ethics and morals. There have been times in my career where I’ve declined to work with companies that I didn’t feel comfortable with.
The Dark Art of PR?
I think it’s fair to say that there is an art to successful communications. It requires skill to think strategically and understand how, what, and when to communicate with various audiences. To do this well, you need empathy, which is the key to successful and honest communications.
Empathy is what spin-doctors lack, and this is where the reputation of PR as working in the ‘dark arts’ comes from. Having a ‘winning at any cost’ mentality leads practitioners to actions that are not aligned with honest PR. It’s cover-up PR.
In doing PR with a conscience, you will have times that you have to own up to mistakes, admit wrongdoing, and be accountable, demonstrating how you’re going to fix your errors. You also have to choose whether a client or company fits with your ethics.
During my career, I’ve realised that great companies allow you to perform your role as the ‘critic and conscience’ of the organisation. The companies that you don’t want to work with as an ethical PR practitioner, will not allow you to perform this function.
There are crooks in every industry, people who lack decency in their values and morals. It doesn’t pay to work like this.
In the New Zealand Herald article, Elwood describes an instance where he was struck by the implications of his participation in aiding unethical individuals. Even this instance of self-reflection and awareness wasn’t enough to stop him. He continued until he was fired and then bad-mouthed his boss to his journalist contacts.
When asked by the journalist if he was perhaps just wilfully naïve, he agreed that maybe he had been. But are people like Phil Elwood really capable of remorse? I doubt it. Even today, he’s exploiting the publicity machine to make money from his memoirs.
Bad people make great spin-doctors. Good people make great PR practitioners.
If you and your company are good people and you’re looking for an integrity-filled PR agency to support you, you know who to call.
Emma Letessier is a Senior Account Manager for HMC.
