The permeable boundaries of PR

Leading law firm, Mischon de Reya, has announced a 'reputation' service for its clients.  While the idea of law firms, advertising agencies and even accountants offering communciation services is nothing new, this announcement once again highlights the problem that public relations has with jurisdiction.

PR suffers from permeable boundaries; with no solid, compulsory education base to delineate what is and what is not the remit of PR, the field is always going to be open to encroachment on its territory by other disciplines.  Until the industry can precisely define its territory, it cannot hope to defend it.  And as we have seen with recent industry debates on definitions, this isn't likely to happen any time soon.

This has implications for the discourse of professionalism which dominates the sector, with industry bodies, such as the CIPR, describing the industry as a profession as a default descriptor, without explaining nor defining the term.  Along with ethics, which was discussed in a previous post, jurisdiction over a privileged body of knowledge is another of the key tenets of a profession.  Without barriers to entry there is nothing stopping anyone, even a high profile law firm, from setting up in the reputation business, and whether we like it or not, this has an impact on the reputation of the PR industry itself.  If, as the CIPR claims, public relations is 'about reputation', and if, as Mischon seems to be suggesting, clients can't trust PR firms to look after their reputation, then what is the point of the PR industry?

To avert this existential crisis, it seems to me that the industry needs to get back to basics and rather than simply employing the discourse of professionalism with no regard for its meaning, it needs to debate what this actually means for PR and how we go about putting substance behind the rhetoric.

Lord Bell claims that the Independent sting has had no impact

In a report in PR Week this week, Lord Bell, chairman of Chime Communications, the group that owns Bell Pottinger, claimed that questions about the conduct of the company’s PR division have had no effect on trading.

Bell Pottinger were last year subject to a sting operation, carried out by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and published by the Independent, in which senior members of the firm were caught boasting about their influence in Westminster.

Bell claims, in the interview with PR Week, that the negative press ‘had no effect whatsoever.  The phone never stops ringing – we’re pitching all the time and continuing to win business.’  I think that Lord Bell has rather missed the point here, to claim that the affair had ‘no effect whatsoever’ shows astonishing arrogance and disregard for basic ethics and the impact that this scandal has on the wider PR community.

This is not simply a trading issue and I would hope that rather than having no effect at all, the rather distasteful affair has had the effect of causing Bell Pottinger to take a long hard look at its business practices and consider the ethics of its actions.  

New Definition of PR Rejected

Interesting article in PR Week this week reporting on the rejection of a new definition of public relations created by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and based on the views of nearly 1,500 comms people from around the world, including the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).

The new definition goes like this:

‘PR is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their bodies’.

Fairly brief. And rejected by the UK’s Public Relations Consultancy Association (PRCA) with 61% of 108 surveyed PR bosses disagreeing with the statement.

Worth reading the article – and especially the follow-up comments from PRCA chief executive Francis Ingham criticizing the statement, and Keith Trivitt, Associate Director of PRSA who defends their stance across the water.   

Not sure this definition moves us on much further than previous definitions, or helps improve everyone’s understanding of what public relations professionals actually DO - something that remains woefully lacking. Does it encapsulate what public relations strives to achieve? Does it go far enough? And who exactly are the 'bodies'? Sounds rather ominous in a CSI way. Do they mean stakeholders? 

Would you accept this as a good working definition along with the Americans and their experts from around the world, or reject it in line with the PRCA and UK PR bosses? Perhaps this disagreement really just highlights the cultural differences in how PR is perceived and practiced in different corners of the globe.

It’s always much easier to criticize something than create it yourself. Maybe the PRSA should be congratulated for trying to position (and justify) public relations in a competitive world where communications budgets are shrinking... but it does feel like more of the same, and rather a disappointing outcome from 1,500 comms experts. 

What do YOU think?

Read all about it...news etiquette

MMUPR students were yesterday treated to a talk on media relations by leading financial PR, Jenny Challenor. Her main argument was that media relations is not dead but the rules of the game have changed and if future PR's are going to develop meaningful relationships with journalists then they need to learn the rules, and be ready to apply them.

Hospitality and lavish gifts are out, grabbing a quick coffee with at least three solid story ideas to offer is in.  Bribery legislation is making journalists more wary of accepting gifts and hospitality so PR practitioners must be able to demonstrate a real understanding of what journalists want and need.

Jenny demonstrated how twitter is growing in importance as a communication tool for journalists and PRO's but she cautioned students on knowing twitter etiquette and understanding its limitations.

But the key to establishing good relationships with journalists, argued Challenor, is reading the papers and keeping abreast of what the key issues are and what has previously been covered on a subject.  In a snap poll only 2 out of the audience of 50 students admitted to reading an actual newspaper, most saying that they read online editions of papers alone; this is not good enough for PRO's, she argued, as online editions don't reflect the full offline content.

Jenny's key tips for good media relations:

- read the papers and watch the news; good PR's keep abreast of the news and can spot good angles and opportunities
- understand how the papers' operate; know deadlines, lead times, preferred contact methods
- don't bombard journalists with press releases or meaningless gifts; untargeted releases and random freebies just undermine your credibility in the long term
- finally, if you don't know what a journalist does, just ask! You might learn something new ;)

Self-governance in a digital age

The discussion that arose from my post on managing your online reputation on Thursday has prompted me to think about the dangers of over-editing, or over-censoring your profile. It is, of course, right to argue that if everyone were to adopt a safe, corporate approach to their online interactions then social media would be a more boring place for all, and would undoubtedly lose its appeal for many, but I don't think that is going to happen anytime soon.

What interests me more about this idea of self-censorship, and I am guilty of it too, is the way it can be related to the Foucauldian concept of governmentality. Michel Foucault was a Twentieth century French philosopher and social theorist who, among his many works, developed the concept of governmentality in his later life. One of the key tenets of this theory was that governments like to produce citizens that self-govern, it makes their life easier after all, and that discourses arise in society to pursue that aim; we might consider recent discourses of 'modernity' and 'continuous professional development' in these terms too (I have written papers on these discourses, so ask in class if you would like to read them!).

My argument about monitoring your online profile could also be said to be such a discourse. In encouraging you to curate your own profiles and think about how you present yourself online, I am guilty of encouraging self-governance. Nonetheless, I remain resolute about the need to think carefully about how much you share online. Social media is pervasive and hard to avoid in our society and so I remain convinced that it is important to curate your online presence in some way, but certainly not in a way that leaves you looking devoid of personality, interests and passion. Any profile which focuses entirely on promoting your corporate skills and competences is to be avoided, especially in the creative industries which thrive on people and ideas rather than skills and competencies alone.

Ultimately it is your choice to get involved in social media networks and you do have the freedom to decide for yourself what, how much and how frequently you share information about your life, but projecting an image you are comfortable with and understanding your audience's perceptions of that image, are good, basic PR skills too. Remember perception is the reality.

Fresh from the industry awards...

I was lucky enough last night to be sat with the young PR who was named Young Practitioner of the year at last night's Fresh PR Awards in central Manchester, David Kuczora; many of you will also know him as he came to talk to the level 4 students a few weeks ago. He was up against stiff competition and, in fact, won jointly with young woman from de Winter.  David is a worthy winner in my opinion, he is, as you would expect more than competent at his job, he behaves professionally and gets good results for his clients, but most of all he loves his job.  Absolutely loves it.  And it is his passion that drives him. So well done, David, and keep having fun!

Managing your own reputation online

The one thing that employers at the PRCA Careers Day agreed on is the need to look after and nurture your online presence. It isn't enought to simply be present on social media, you also need to be active, but exactly how much sharing should you do? More and more employers are looking at online profiles as part of the recruitment process, as this bbc news programme confirms, so how do you ensure that you are safeguarding your reputation online?

At the PRCA Careers Day Waggener Edstrom handed out fliers to participants warning them of the dangers of over-sharing; they offer the following tips to, in their words, 'pimp your social media presence':

- tread carefully posting pictures: embarrassing pics of a night out might look funny to you and your mates but HR will worry about repeat performances
- "got home at 3am, work tomorrow; eek!": burning the candle at both ends may seem cool but HR will see this as being tired and hungover at work
- "can't wait to hit @nandos_official tonight": this might be interesting to you but make sure that your content reflects your passions and not just your diary
- "find me on Facebook, twitter, blogger, MySpace, pinterest, bebo...": just joining sites is not enough. rove how digitally-savvy you really are by being active on all.

So review your online presence and ask yourself, is this how I would want employers to see me? Am I happy that I'm developing the right online reputation? Showing your bubbly, outgoing personality is fine, but if you tweet more about your pizza than your passions, start making some changes now!

Meeting the PR high fliers of tomorrow

MMUPR spent the day at the PRCA careers day at the Natural History Museum in London today. Over one hundred students from a wide range of backgrounds converged on London to find out more about working in public relations. The packed programme included sessions on working in-house versus agency, digital PR and the topic everyone had come to hear about, breaking into PR.

A number of companies were present advertising their internship opportunities and graduate schemes, each swamped with the high-fliers of tomorrow! Cohn & Wolfe tempted conference-goers with a stand laden with well-known brands and products, and as if this weren't tempting enough, they offer a great paid internship programme and graduate scheme; log on to cohnwolfe.com or email greatcareers@cohnwolfe.com for more information. Bite Communications, voted one of the Sunday Times top 100 companies to work for, offers a great graduate scheme for those interested in the growing digital sector; email rowan.mckinlay@bitecommunications.com for more information. Waggener Edstrom are one of the world's largest independent integrated communications agencies. With over 850 people in 19 offices across the world, Waggener Edstrom specialises in technology, healthcare and energy sectors and with has a specialist digital team, Studio D, making it a great fit for MMUBS PR & Digital Comms students! They have a variety of schemes and are always on the look out for graduates and interns so for more information email paulag@wagged.com or follow them on twitter, @WaggedHR_UK

If a graduate scheme doesn't appeal, then new venture, PR Apprenticeships, developed in conjunction with PRCA might be of interest. The scheme is a level 4 programme which combines 4 days in work with one day's training per week and has been developed to meet the needs of industry. The scheme will be running a series of events throughout the year, including one in Manchester, so check out the website for more details: www.prapprenticeships.com.

As for MMUPR, the MSc in International Public Relations attracted a lot of interest from humanities undergraduates looking to specialise and develop their PR skills after graduation, so hopefully we will have an ingesting cohort next year! All in all an interesting day and a packed programme, so MMUPR, do try and get along to the next one!