PR in the Season of Giving
By Marlene Elizalde Cinco
The brand message of Christmas has always been about giving. Between Christmas news hooks and forward features lists, ’tis thus the season for public relations (PR) companies to get busy…and dirty?
As I crawl my way into the industry, I have witnessed a few practices that one would assume would be taboo in any profession. But to those who erode the legitimacy of PR as a profession through their practice, “pampering” the media is the bloodline of their business—and then some.
Cases in point
My first brush with the practice occurred when I had the chance to be trained in one of the country’s biggest television networks while I was still a student. Assigned to its PR department, I did clerical work, wrote press releases, monitored newspapers and assisted during events.
In one of the press conferences, however, I had a close encounter with corruption: I placed money, from P2,000 to P5,000, in long white envelopes—for handing out to the network’s “regulars”.
A few press friends also confirmed stories about companies that frequently hand out give-aways to the media, especially during this season of joy—from gift certificates to round-trip plane tickets, from home appliances to the latest gadgets, and from branded clothes to designer bags.
One real estate company distributed gift certificates courtesy of a restaurant it also owns. A leading cement company once gave away hotel room reservations where its patrons and their families could spend their Christmas.
And all that jazz
Although some may think that gift-giving is not necessarily unethical, lavish gifts and product give-aways to influence the media is a form of corruption. Unfortunately it’s the PR profession that’s at the forefront of the practice.
Bong Osorio, ABS-CBN 2’s corporate communications head, wrote in his column in the Philippine Star that PR is often called the “dark art” practiced by PR men and women in expensive watering holes or golf courses. Still others describe it as organized lying, “envelopmental” communication, or spin doctoring.
PR has a credibility crisis, Osorio added. It’s based on the gap between theory and practice in the profession, where issues of identity, ethics and competence are undermining its standing. The lack of respect for the PR profession is a critical challenge indeed, particularly in view of the climate of distrust in which many practitioners are operating.
According to a study by Zenaida Sarabia Panol, a professor in the School of Journalism, College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University, public relations in the Philippines, after more than five decades of existence, has achieved tremendous progress as it embarked on a sustained process of professionalization.
Nonetheless, Panol identified a number of issues that remain, among them the challenge to maintain credibility and social responsibility as it responds to the developmental needs of a Third World country.
Indeed, for those PR practitioners who have worked hard to observe the highest ethical standards, dealing with PR pretenders who continuously demean the industry is devastating.
Yet, should we blame media-buying on PR agencies and the companies they represent alone? Or do the media have anything to do with this?
To make matters worse
Panol and Marina Caterina Lorenzo Molo, an instructor in the Institue of Communication of the University of Asia and the Pacific, identified Filipinos’ two peculiar traits: utang na loob ( debt of gratitude) and pakikisama (cooperating with the team or group and giving importance to harmony and conformity), which are manifestations of the Philippines’ collectivist society. This mutual back-scratching has created a Filipino brand of PR vulnerable to unethical practice and breaches of professional conduct.
One author lists practices in the PR field which may have evolved from the “personalistic” culture of the Filipinos. Among them are:
• Gift-giving between and among PR service providers, clients, suppliers, and the media
• Use of personal contacts for business networking
• The use of interpersonal relations (pakikisama) strategies, such as putting a premium on getting along and cooperating with everyone, and expressing and expecting gratitude in dealing with the various publics
• Intensive use of diplomacy, and a penchant for the use of flattery
• The practice of “envelopmental journalism,” in which the media are bribed to create a good image for the client (or a bad one for the competition). The practice known popularly as AC-DC (attack-collect / defend-collect) is also rampant among PR and media practitioners.
While many media people detest PR practitioners for bribing and corrupting their fellow practitioners, a good number of press people not only tolerate the practice of overgenerous corporate gift-giving. Some even demand money from organizations in return for a promise that da-maging stories about them will never see print.
Push to professionalize the PR industry
PR practitioners do not receive the same respect people give doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals. It shares the same reputation as journalism—that it is plagued by corruption and unsound practices, Panol and Molo claimed.
Promoting professional standards and overall PR growth, four organizations are actively pushing professionalism in the PR industry: the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, the PR Organization of the Philippines, the local chapter of the International Public Relations Association, and the local chapter of the International Association of Business Communication.
Like other professionals, PR practitioners build relationships between themselves and the media by trying to know members of the media well and earning their respect as professionals and as friends.
The late journalist Teodoro Locsin said once said that “newspapers need public relations people and the stuff they give out as much as [public relations professionals] need newspapers to give our stuff to the people.”
Osorio, in the same column, pointed out that some members of the media, however, remain unconvinced of the news-worthiness of leads from PR practitioners—they are hardly ever viewed as equal partners, in what should otherwise be a mutually advantageous relationship.
To address the problems in the industry aching for a solution, ethics and better oversight should help rebuild the eroding credibility of the public relations industry.
PR veteran Max Edralin, described by BusinessWorld columnist J.J. Calero as a true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool PR professional, explained: “We have a code of ethics but we don’t have the mechanism to enforce it. (If it is any consolation) this is a problem worldwide (but we cannot ignore it) because it is eroding public confidence in the profession.”
Amid policy issuances, protecting public relations as an honorable profession continues to be an uphill battle. Yet there is reason to hope that someday PR professionals will be accorded the respect they ought to have, once the problems of the profession are effectively addressed.
A University of Santo Tomas journalism graduate in 2007, Marlene Elizalde Cinco works for public relations company Orendain and Associates.
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