Old School-New School

I am not one to sit around and reminisce about the "good old days." As a rule, my preference is to talk about the hear-and-now with occasional references to days gone by primarily as a point of reference. But if I were to pull up a chair with others and discuss public relations, then my memories would be a mixed-bag. By that I mean I would not automatically claim things today are not as good as they used to be. To do so would be to ignore the reality of our technical advances and ability to connect with literally millions of others with well-timed and placed messages. As good as they may have been, pioneers like Edward Bernays and Ivy Lee could not do that.

Having said that, however, one regret I would express is how professional communicators seem to have moved away from the initial purpose of public relations. As the name suggests, public relations was designed to enhance connections between multiple publics; build and maintain bridges so that folks could move forward with a greater sense of shared purpose or harmony rather than view each other as a competitor or, worse, a group to manipulate or control. Such thinking, as I see it, is "old school." More and more, it has been replaced by a "new school" way of thinking designed to create division.

How the government is currently dealing with the coronavirus crisis illustrates the old school-new school conflict. On the one hand, the government is urging citizens to practice particular measures in order to remain healthy and help keep others that way, too. But on the other, overtures by the federal government are underway to sow division within the country. This includes blaming various state and local officials for decisions they are making when it comes to keeping their constituents safe. The result is a growing discontent among the populace. Not only are people unhappy with the virus, now they are increasingly unhappy with those responsibility for looking out for them. As a retired public relations practitioner, we could use more old school thinking and a lot less new school thinking.