Words of Wisdom

The commencement address for PR grads…

It’s been over forty years since I was preparing for my “orals” at the University of Kansas... in the dark ages of a collegiate post graduate education we were required to undergo both a written and oral exam for graduation…and I still remember sweating out the possible questions that I might have to answer ‘face-to-face” from my professors. Ironically, after these all-to-brief four decades, I only remember one question, delivered straight to the heart by my professor of ethics… “Grove, with all your journalistic education over the last six years, why would you possibly want to become a flack?”

Interesting question…particularly given the reasonably high level of esteem that PR was held in those days. We were actually taught, for example, that another definition for the acronym, “PR,” was performance and recognition, and that journalism and the newsworthiness should be the basis for PR coverage. “Spin” was of course reserved for records (remember those round pieces of vinyl with a hole in the center?) and “counselors” were for legal advice or career guidance.

My professor may have been simply trying to warn me, though. Manipulation of the media had been going on for decades of course, and shortly thereafter, we all lost our PR naïveté’ and learned of “spin” in the worst way during the war in Southeast Asia. But at that time and even today, I continue to believe that it’s not necessary to practice or make a career in PR by having to sink to that level. PR is no different than other professions where tough choices must be made daily to keep focused on what is right and not what is expeditious…what serves your client and yourself with the greatest respect, not gratuitousness. And to do so in a partnership with the media, not as an antagonist.

Granted, today’s media megasphere is vastly different than the simple printed black and white and analog broadcast world of the late sixties. But isn’t today’s electronic, satellite transmission, Internet enabled social media-crazed global communications world really just an extension of that simpler time? Has the very essence of news, including business news, changed along with the speed in which it is transmitted? Will there be any less of a demand to compromise journalistic as well as ethical principles for short term benefits simply because terms are becoming shorter by the day? Because enterprises are now global (and called “enterprises”) rather than regional or national companies, has it made them any less in need of recognition for good performance? The answer is no… and when the PR class of 2049 graduates, my bet is it will still be no.

My response, by the way, to my professor, was simple… "I didn’t plan on becoming one.” Still don’t.

To be, or not to be…a flack. That is the question.

One of the sad side effects of this current recession is that traditional media in both print and broadcast are cutting editorial staffs in record numbers creating an influx of highly qualified and trained journalists on the street. Last week many of these journalists were reporting on the growing unemployment numbers and now they’ve joined them. Some are shifting their talents online…some are finding income as freelance writers, and some are dropping out entirely in hopes of finding more secure professions. But many, heaven forbid, are debating whether to join what they have always jokingly called, ‘the dark side’…public relations. A field, in their minds, infested by those who simply don’t get it…”flacks.” As expressed by Rob Walker, a New York Times columnist in his recent blogpost PR Corner:Tragedy as hook

And others… B.L. Ochman's blogpost

I for one, welcome these dispossessed journalists not as the elitists they might have once been, but as brothers and sisters that frankly we in the established PR world, need as much as they need jobs. The very thing that Walker complains about is the very thing that good journalists bring to PR…an inside understanding and empathy of what makes the media work…what makes a story compelling and why…and most importantly, how to persuade the media gatekeepers to listen. Or as we say around INK, “to make our client’s story the most interesting one that an editor will hear that day.”

That is not to say that all journalists have the skill or temperament that transfer well to pitching stories as opposed to writing them. Many will fail because of a lack of this skill set and because they simply cannot adjust to the creative demands and pressures of client expectations. In general however, good journalists, those I describe as good news people with an instinct for news, are extremely valuable and welcome.

But what of this question of name calling…i.e., flack. Is it really necessary and is it really so bad? According to Merriam-Webster, maybe not. Flack “One who provides publicity: as in press agent: an agent employed to establish and maintain good public relations through publicity.”

Doesn’t sound quite so ominous put that way, does it?

Peter Himler, a respected long–time pro in the PR profession actually titles his blog post, The Flack. Personally I am not a big fan of this tag, but it is what it is. By sharing best practices and exposing ethical lapses, it is my hope that "the flack" will follow "the hack" into semantic oblivion.”

Those remaining reporters and news directors that complain the most about PR people being “flacks” and not worthy of their time or even email acceptability, had best be cautious and perhaps a bit more respectful. That pitch which you just rejected out-of-hand might well be coming from a former colleague that used to reside in that empty cube next door.