Public Relations and Democracy

In many ways, when it comes to us, the bottom line question is what kind of contribution, if any, do we make to society. Big or small, is it something positive that betters the lot of our fellow men and women? The same, I believe, holds true for any organization. In keeping with this, recently I came across an article on public relations by Patrick Coffee that was written in October, 2012, in PR Newser. Titled "Does the Growth of PR 'Threaten Democracy?', the author raises the possibility that the growing field of pubic relations with its thousands of practitioners is eroding the ability of journalists to report the news objectively.

Coffee observes that more and more of the messages and/or information being communicated to the general public is "sponsored" by some one or some thing rather than being simply reported. An analogy to this might be the relationship between lobbyists and elected officials. As lobbyists far outnumber those elected to office, many have expressed concern that it is those lobbyists who are dictating the content of legislation and the actions of those men and women who supposedly are in office to serve the public and advance democracy. My concern is this question raised by Coffee might very well have an element of truth in it.

There is no doubt public relations practitioners spend much of their time trying to sway reporters to cover specific stories and then report them in particular ways that flatter their clients. The fact there are so many of these paid communicators (the Public Relatons Society of America alone boats over 20,000 members) leaves the print and electronic reporters, many of whom are operating under tight budgets, limited resources shrinking news holes to fill, with a very heavy challenge of not bending to this heavy pressure coming from PR types. Generally-speaking, the press seems to be fighting an uphill battle. So, what is to be done? Those same public relations professionals can help by ensuring everything they share with the press and the public is accurate. The truth is powerful enough to help maintain the viability of a society no matter what might be pulling against it.