Recession being blamed on “Public Relations” ? We wish we were that important...

As the economy worsens and it begins to affect each of us personally, we begin the very human process of finger pointing and blame gaming. Lately the focus of some of that blame has been leveled at our own profession…public relations. Guess who’s to blame for the recession? It rhymes with ‘shublic belations’

I’ve had a few good rants myself on the subject. But to be fair, my criticisms have not been at the profession overall, but at certain practices and firms that seem determined to black all of our eyes. And there lies a bigger problem for some of us that practice PR a little differently…that is, smartly, honestly and fairly.

In the meantime, headlines continue to be made by not only the extravagant hiring of PR firms, like AIG running amuck, to the City of Chicago’s recent firing of PR firms. Bad PR forces City Hall to cancel contracts

Let’s be clear…PR did not cause this recession and PR is not extending it. And here’s an even bigger blow to the PR blogosphere…we’re important, but not that important in the grand scheme of world geopolitics and geo-economics to be having a significant impact one way or another. That is not to say, we’re not an easy target. We are. And that’s our own fault. PR’s job and those of us who have been proud to practice it for a living over the years, is to facilitate information, to assist in communicating, and at times to educate…and in so doing, to often influence those to whom we’re communicating. We’re our clients’ storytellers when they have things of significance to tell. But we should never be their shills nor their “spinmeisters” and we should never ever become the story itself. And most importantly, when a client asks us to tell a story that in the best case is of little or no news value or worst case, is disingenuous or misleading, we should be honest and give them the best of professional advice…no.

But the most egregious of PR practices and the single greatest target of criticism during an economic downturn is the size of many of the large firms’ fees and the lack of accountability in how the traditional PR world is compensated. Inflated hourly fees for highly subjective and non-tangible results deserve the criticism…and I personally hope the outrage continues.

We as a country and as an economy will weather this crisis, bad as it is and bad as it may yet become. And while keeping our individual and professional roles in some humble and realistic perspective, we as PR practitioners can help and make a difference. How…by demanding that PR go beyond the image of high priced counselors to a more equitable compensation system based on fair pay for tangible performance.