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‘Public Relations’ vs. ‘Spin’
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Business New Haven
12/14/1998
By: Michael Salius
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Spin used to be an acceptable term for a permissible public relations practice: “staying on message” while handling media questions or putting your organization's best foot forward and conveying your key message to the public.
But thanks to political pundits, most people now think of spin negatively, as manipulating public opinion. At best, spin's new usage involves obfuscating the truth. Unlike spin doctors, ethical public relations professionals - and most PR pros are ethical, it should be pointed out - do not try to cast bad news in a good light. Rather, our purpose is to help build mutually beneficial relationships by advancing the common areas of interest that exist between our clients and their constituencies.
When PR professionals help employees, customers or voters learn why acting in ways that support an organization's goals may be in their best interests, they are using PR to shed light on objective truths that weren't previously apparent. Spin doesn't do this.
Spin Hurts Clients Who Practice It
My criticism may sound like whining or semantics, but I assure you: Practicing spin instead of sound PR will eventually erode the trust people have placed in your organization.
There's little question that spin (in its current usage) can be used effectively to circumvent difficult situations in the short term. But more often than not, it leads to bigger, unresolvable problems down the road.
For example, U.S. Sen. Alphonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) was accused of making a defamatory comment about his opponent during his recent re-election campaign. At first, he said he had no recollection of making the comment. But undeniable evidence eventually did surface that proved he actually made the defamatory comment. Forced to admit having made the statement, D'Amato still insisted it had been taken out of context.
He should have admitted making the slur and apologized for it when the accusation was first reported. The public would have soon forgotten the incident, though the senator's reputation might have been slightly tarnished. But lying to the public is never accepted, seldom forgotten and permanently harmful to the reputation of any public figure who thinks he can get away with it over the long run. In D'Amato's case, spin-doctoring may ultimately have cost him his re-election bid.
Spin is often a desperate attempt to evade the truth. More often, though, as practiced by business leaders, spin takes a less malevolent, but still short-sighted, form. This occurs when organizational leaders expect public-relations people merely to sing the praises of inside policies, procedures, products and services. This type of one-way communication is the softer side of spin, a/k/a publicity and promotion, and most business communications professionals are quite adept at it. But, as Peter Drucker said in a recent interview with the Public Relations Strategist, ''Relations by definition are a two-way street.”
Spin Is Not a Two-Way Street
Drucker says PR's more important job is to help management form two-way relationships with their constituencies. This can only be accomplished by helping management listen to and interpret the changing tides that affect public preferences as they relate to the organization's mission. Management doesn't always want to hear the truth - especially when it's bad news. But management has to begin to look upon the public relations function not just as its “trumpet,” but also as an important “hearing aid.” And we PR professionals have to take the chance of getting shot when we deliver bad news.
Michael Salius is president/owner of Salius Communications, a Hartford-based public relations and marketing communications firm.
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