PR industry trade bodies have hit back at Lewis PR founder Chris
Lewis over a damning article he wrote this week for the Financial
Times's Creative Business section.
Lewis accused the IPR and the PRCA of being unrepresentative of the PR
sector and of failing to remedy a situation whereby the industry had
become 'its own worst publicist'.
He wrote: 'Bodies such as the Law Society and the Institute of Chartered
Accountants are out there talking up their respective professions. In
comparison, the IPR and the PRCA reflect what the industry was like five
or ten years ago.'
PRCA chairman Tom Watson said that since Lewis was a member of neither
body and 'clearly has no understanding of how they work or what they do,
it is a little bold to suggest that neither body has done much to
increase PR's standing'.
IPR president Ian Wright said: 'Nine members of Lewis's staff are IPR
members and one is on our national council. Yes, the IPR should be more
representative of the industry, but why has he never sought to lead
either organisation himself. We can all jeer from the sidelines - it
takes real courage to try and change things.'
Lewis dismissed these criticisms, insisting it was the role of the
bodies to be 'critiqued' by PR practitioners: 'There is a difference
between respect for fellow professionals and forelock-tugging,' he
said.
Leader, p10.
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