On the same day that Roger Haywood wisely gave another caution against
treating public relations simply as a part of the marketing process (PR
Week, 24 November), our business took yet another public knocking on
Radio 4. Referring to American influence over the Bosnian peace deal, a
Balkan commentator regretted ‘the preference for PR over substance’.
If PR is not about substance it means that we are all in the craft of
conning people at the worst or dealing in superficialities at the best.
What a condemnation of an occupation to which so many have devoted years
of energy.
PR counsel should focus on improving an organisation’s policies and not
confine itself to laying out a publicity programme. We should distance
ourselves from the fashionable concept of ‘spin doctoring’: it has no
place in professional public relations.
John Greenall, John Greenall PR, Milton Keynes
