CBS Sunday Morning Rebuttal Defends PR

An excutive VP at CBS Sunday Morning has provided a rebuttal to Andrew Cohen's commentary (see my previous post). Author Gil Schwartz is executive VP of corporate communications for CBS. He's also known as Stanly Bing. On June 22, CBS Sunday Morning aired his response, titled "Defending Public Relations."

Chapter President-Elect Sends Letter to PRSA about Andrew Cohen Rant

Related to my previous post about Andrew Cohen’s rant, our chapter’s president-elect,
Robert E. Sheldon, APR, sent a letter to PRSA’s president & CEO, Bill Murray. This was in response to the open letter the Murray released immediately after the CBS Sunday Morning show aired. Sheldon’s letters are below in their entirety (with his permission), I didn’t ask for Murray’s permission, so I’ve only summarized his comments.

Has anyone pointed out that Scott McClellan is not even a member of PRSA - and probably wouldn’t be able to abide by the Code of Ethics anyway? THAT should have been the whole point of the answer letter from PRSA - that what McClellan did was NOT public relations in the sense that PRSA defines it, it was bald-face, deceptive marketing. Reputable PR practitioners belong to PRSA and abide by the Code of Ethics. The reality is that we don’t set standards for the "PR profession," we only set standards for PRSA members. And we PRSA members are only a minority of all the people who profess to be in the public relations profession.
– Robert Sheldon, APR

Murray responded with a letter essentially stating that his strategy was to focus on conduct of all PR professionals, whether or not they are PRSA members, and to hold up the Code of Ethics as guide for all.

Sheldon sent the following in response.

Thanks for the quick reply. I agree that we need to promote our standards for the whole of the profession, but we also need to constantly clarify what is and is not public relations. In the public’s view, being a PR professional today is right up there with used car salesmen, snake-oil hucksters and greedy CEOs - because that’s all they see. But being a dissembling apologist for an unethical client is NOT public relations, in my view - it’s manipulative propaganda -- and PRSA needs to constantly tell the public what the difference is.
– Robert Sheldon, APR

We’d love to hear what you think.

Note: A misspelled name has been corrected on 7/1/08

PRSA Responds to CBS Attack on the Public Relations Profession

On June 1, CBS Sunday Morning aired a commentary by their legal analyst, Andrew Cohen, in which he accused all PR folk of essentially lying for a living. “Show me a PR person who is ‘accurate’ and ‘"truthful,’ and I'll show you a PR person who is unemployed,” he said.

The impetus for his statements was the release of Scott McClellan’s tell-all book. But Cohen took an unjournalistic leap by extending his criticism to our entire profession and directly citing (sarcastically) the PRSA code of ethics.

Later the same day – a Sunday I might add – PRSA Chairman & CEO Jeffrey Julin released an open letter in response. A little bit later, he issued a video response on YouTube.

Individual PR professionals came to the defense of each other as well. To read one of several impressions, visit the blog of Kami Watson-Huyse, APR. On June 2, Andrew Cohen responded in a blog post saying: “I am now the target of a public-relations effort to ridicule my effort, my points, my character and integrity. I expected nothing less.”

Personally, I think it’s clear nothing we say will change Cohen’s mind. So, at this point, it’s fruitless to try. First, he’s mistaken to even consider McClellan’s role as equal to that of other PR positions. That’s politics. It’s an entirely different world, which is not to say honesty is absent or excused. But it’s different.

Second, he refuses to see the true purpose of public relations. PR cannot succeed when it is based on deceit. In fact, we are in the truth-telling business. Sometimes that means telling our bosses what they don’t want to hear. And it’s about relationship building, not treating audiences like pawns to be manipulated.

I’ve been active in San Antonio’s PRSA chapter for 14 years. I don’t personally know any PR person who spends his or her days trying to “convince people that a turkey is really an eagle,” as Cohen describes.

I am not claiming we’re perfect or that we don’t need to continually hold ourselves and each other accountable. That’s why we join professional associations like PRSA.

And while Cohen is free to speak his mind, given his position and influence he bears as much responsibility to be honest and as accurate as possible. There is no evidence to support his claims about the bulk of our profession. Instead he’s given in to his emotion and personal preconceptions. And in doing so, he has damaged the reputation of the profession and of CBS Sunday Morning. He should be required to issue a correction during the next Sunday Morning program.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.